


ah the lengthening hours at the refinery, belching fire into the sky

by MarsBar2019



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Plug, Anal Sex, Asphyxiation, BDSM, Bathing/Washing, Begging, Blindfolds, Blow Jobs, Boot Worship, Caning, Cock Rings, Cock Warming, Cock Worship, Crossdressing Kink, Dirty Talk, Dom Caleb Widogast, Dom/sub, Exhibitionism, Facials, Friends With Benefits, Gags, Gender Play, Hurt/Comfort, LATER, M/M, Masturbation, Nipple Clamps, OR IS IT MORE, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Rimming, Rope Bondage, Safeword Use, Semi-Public Sex, Sex Magic, Sex Toys, Sub Mollymauk Tealeaf, Threesome - M/M/M, Verbal Humiliation, Wax Play, alcohol use, maybe there will be plot, no beta we die like men, we'll find out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:13:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 97,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarsBar2019/pseuds/MarsBar2019
Summary: Molly needs to hand the reins to someone every once in a while. Caleb needs to take them. They come to an agreement.
Relationships: Mollymauk Tealeaf/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 377
Kudos: 677





	1. we do our best vampire routines as we suck the dying hours dry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before you jump in, I just wanted to make a quick note here about BDSM safety; I pretty deliberately left the "negotiation" component of the conversation that takes place in the beginning void of details. There are several narrative reasons for this choice, but I wanted to make it clear that just because you don't see the discussion about limits, safewords, triggers, etc. doesn't mean it didn't happen! That's all. May the smut commence!

Molly couldn’t say exactly when the idea started to coalesce in his mind. The seed might have been planted when they parted ways with Calianna, when Caleb and Beau had that big fight. But it wasn’t until now, with them all comfortably settled in the new house, that he finally felt like maybe it was an idea worth pursuing, making into more than an idle fantasy.

His opportunity came sooner than he expected. The rest of the Nein were out, having decided at dinner to go out for a drink. When Caleb declined the invitation, citing something he was working on, Molly also begged off, claiming to be feeling unwell. He took a bath after dinner, puttered around the house, until he couldn’t put it off anymore and went to the library, a bottle of wine and two glasses in hand.

“Mister Caleb?” Molly called, closing the library door quietly behind him.

“Hmm? Mollymauk?”

“In the flesh, darling. Care to have a glass of wine with me?” Molly turned the corner and found Caleb at his desk, hunched over some dusty text that Molly probably couldn’t read. He looked up and gave Molly a quick smile. Gods, those baby blues were something…. Molly looked away quickly, raising the bottle to give himself an excuse. Caleb furrowed his brow.

“I thought you were not feeling well?”

“Just didn’t want to go out with the gang. Wanted to talk to you, actually, if you’ve got a minute.”

“Me?” Molly looked around.

“I don’t see anyone else here,” he quipped. “Yes, you. Come on, come sit by the fire with me.” Caleb closed his book slowly and followed Molly to the couch. Molly focused on keeping his hand steady to disguise his nerves, pouring two generous glasses.

“That good?” He handed Caleb a glass, who nodded. He seemed far more nervous than Molly, though Molly suspected that might change in a minute, if things didn’t go as he hoped they would.

“Is everything alright, Molly?”

“Oh yeah, everything’s grand.” Molly steeled himself with a deep breath. His heart was pounding in his chest, the anxiety making him lightheaded.

“What did you want to discuss?” Caleb took a sip of wine and Molly forced himself to tear his eyes away from ruby stained lips. _You can do it. Keep your cool._

“Well, I noticed something about you, Mister Caleb.” Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“Oh?”

“I’ve been thinking about it, actually, ever since, uh, that day in the Labenda Swamp, with Beau and Cali, the dragonborn girl… The fight the two of you got into.” Caleb looked away from Molly, towards the fire. _Maybe a mistake to bring that up…._

“That was many months ago now, Mollymauk, and…it is not a moment I am particularly proud of.”

“I know, and I didn’t mean - okay, let me just cut to it. You like to be in control. Am I wrong?” Caleb’s eyes snapped back to Molly, searching his face.

“No, you are not,” he said after a long pause. Molly took a deep breath. He shifted so he was sitting a little closer to Caleb.

“Is that true…in other aspects of your life?” Molly thought the pink flush that came into Caleb’s cheeks probably meant he knew what Molly was asking.

“L-like what?” _Oh, fuck me running for making me say it._

“Like in bed.” The words were out there now, no pulling them back in. Caleb stared into his wineglass for a long moment and when he looked back at Molly again, the blush was still there but the nervous, deer-like expression on Caleb’s face was gone. The corner of his mouth quirked up into a small smile.

“Ja, you could say that.” Molly let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and hoped it wasn’t too obvious. It was; Caleb looked him over with a smirk like he was eyeing prey.

“What did you come here to ask me about, Mollymauk?” His tone was light, teasing. Molly felt a slight shiver go through him at the sudden seductiveness in Caleb’s voice, the feeling of being led into a trap. He watched those eyes stare into him over the rim of the wineglass as Caleb raised it to his lips and Molly’s silver tongue was tripping in his mouth.

“Well, um, I…like…to not be in control, sometimes. Need someone to slap my head on straight, so to speak, I guess. It helps me turn off some of the…shit…when I’m sick of hearing it. If I had to hazard a guess, based on others I’ve known who like taking the reins, that’s not too far off for you, either, is it?”

“No, it is not,” Caleb murmured, taking another drink.

“Then perhaps we could come to some…mutually beneficial arrangement. Just, you know, have some fun.” Caleb was quiet again for a moment. Molly’s heart was hammering in his chest. It felt like the silence stretched on for an eternity and the panic was welling up in him but he resisted the urge to keep babbling and fill it with silence.

“Then we should discuss terms.”

Molly’s blood was roaring in his ears. Was this happening? He agreed so easily, Molly had the ludicrous thought for a moment that maybe Caleb didn’t really know what he was asking about.

“Alright. Um…like what?” Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“Are there things I should not do, or say, places you do not like to be touched?”

“I like being touched _everywhere_ ,” Molly said with a devilish wink. Caleb rolled his eyes but smiled.

“Perhaps I should phrase the question differently. What do you need? In order to, ah, feel safe with me?” Molly had never really thought about that before. He shrugged.

“I can’t really think of anything. I’ll try anything once and I trust you not to hurt me. Not much special about me.”

“I disagree, Mollymauk, I think there is very much that is special about you.”

Those blue eyes were raking over him again, taking in every inch. Molly didn’t know if he’d make it through this conversation without getting on his knees, with Caleb looking at him like that. Molly’s tail started to patter on the couch behind him. Damn that thing, it gave him away every time. Caleb noticed and smirked again.

“I agree, love, and thank you for noticing. Is there anything… _you_ feel like you need?”

The question felt strange to Molly, but clearly it had been important to Caleb to ask it, and he thought it would be polite to reciprocate. In Molly’s experience, the men (and handful of women) who enjoyed playing rough with him in bed didn’t ask these types of questions, and he had never thought of _them_ as needing anything other than access to his body, which he gave more or less readily.

“Ah, ja, a few things. First, I need to know that if something is too much, or you need to stop, slow down, change something, for any reason, that you would say so, without hesitation or worrying you will disappoint me. I cannot do this with you if I do not know that.”

“Yeah, of course, darling, gods.” Caleb nodded.

“Good. Not everybody does and I could not…I would be very upset with myself if I pushed you too far. It is also important to me that you let me care for you after.” Caleb was full of surprises. As far as he was concerned, he was perfectly happy to manage himself afterwards - but if Caleb wanted him to stick around, he could do that.

“Sure, if that…is important to you.”

“It is. That is all I need. You have said everything you need, ja?” Molly nodded. A grin slowly spread over Caleb’s face. “Then let’s talk about what you _like._ ”

The fire was burning low by the time their conversation petered out, and fuck, Molly was horny as _hell_. He didn’t realize talking through what he liked in bed could be so _hot_ , and watching the gears turning in Caleb’s head as they discussed each suggestion was driving Molly’s imagination wild. Caleb asked about what turned Molly on, shared some of his own secret desires, and they discussed many things neither of them had tried but were very excited to.

“So,” Molly said, after a long silence. “What, um, what now?” A small part of him was sleepy and ready to turn in, but it was pushed down by the much larger part that wanted Caleb to drag him off to bed right this minute. Caleb gazed at him for a moment, fingers circling the rim of his wineglass. Molly felt that same sensation wash over him, the feeling of being a prey animal staring down a predator. Wordlessly, Caleb placed the glass aside, kneeled on the couch and perched over Molly. Molly thought for a second that he was going to kiss him, and closed his eyes, hissing in a breath when he felt Caleb’s lips graze against his jaw. The feeling of Caleb over him, his hair brushing Molly’s cheek, his heat, his scent, was making Molly crazy with anticipation, caught in a moment that hovered between wanting something and getting it.

“What happens now,” a low, Zemnian accented voice murmured in his ear, “is you go back to your room.” Warm lips pressed a soft, barely there kiss to Molly’s skin. Molly whined, soft, plaintive, before he could stop himself; Caleb pulled back and long fingers grasped Molly’s chin, surprisingly rough, tilting his face so he couldn’t look anywhere but Caleb’s eyes.

“Nein. That is not how this works. You _will_ learn to control your desires, Mollymauk. Do you know why?”

“Why?” Molly whispered, unable to look away from Caleb’s gaze. The hand that had been holding Molly’s chin pushed his thighs apart and cupped the crotch of his pants.

“Because this belongs to me now, and I will decide what you get and when you get it. Do you understand?” _Holy fuck._

“Yes…”

“Good boy.” Molly let out a quiet groan of frustration and intense arousal. “I want you in my room, tomorrow night, one hour after dinner. Do not touch yourself in between now and then.” Caleb’s tongue ran over the outside of Molly’s ear, sending a shudder through Molly’s body.

“I want to find you aching for me tomorrow night.”

Molly exhaled hard, his face flushed with arousal. And he couldn’t do anything about it. Caleb could clearly see it on his face and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

“Ja?”

“Yes,” Molly breathed. He could’ve stayed on that couch all night, but Caleb sat back at the other end of the couch and looked at him with a raised eyebrow until he stood and left.

“Tomorrow night,” Molly repeated on his way out. He’d be good. He’d be _so_ good, the best, Caleb wouldn’t be able to stand it. Molly told himself that he was being defiant by showing Caleb how good he could be, while he tossed and turned in bed, his erectionunrelenting until he finally drifted off to sleep.

~~~

The next day passed in a blur, and felt like it lasted for weeks. Every time Molly caught Caleb’s eye in the house, he got a small smirk or, if they were alone, a wink, alluding to what Molly was anticipating. Molly even tried taking a nap in the afternoon, just so the day would pass more quickly. Before dinner, Molly spent nearly an hour in the bathroom, taking a long bath, rubbing oil into his skin, fixing his curls so they were shiny and soft looking. Molly even put a little kohl on his eyes, just to make them pop more. He didn’t want to admit how excited he was about this, that he was doing all this for Caleb, but he was. He wanted to look absolutely devastating and give Caleb a taste of the desperate denial he’d endured all day long.

He knew he’d been successful when he sauntered downstairs for dinner and Caleb did a double take, glancing up at him briefly and then jerking his head up again to take a longer look. It was Molly’s turn to smirk, but his tail whipped behind him with anticipation that definitely gave him away.

Molly hardly tasted the meal; it was delicious as any they shared, but his stomach quivered every time Caleb’s gaze met his. The hunger in his eyes was breathtaking, and Molly loved every second of being the subject of it. He tried to act normal, like he wasn’t beyond desperate to get laid, like he wasn’t shivering with excitement over what was coming for him later.

As soon as Beau and Fjord started to clear the table, Molly waited for an opportune moment to slip into the library. His heart was pounding, and he walked around aimlessly, fidgeting. After a few moments, he saw Caleb come through the door and his chest started thrumming faster. Caleb’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and for a moment, fear washed over Molly - had he changed his mind? Did Molly already do something wrong? Then he remembered: he had been so excited about “after dinner” that he forgot the “one hour” part at the beginning. The two men stared at each other as Molly processed this realization, and in an instant, Caleb’s taken aback expression melted, replaced with a more playful, stern one. Wordlessly, he gestured for Molly to follow him into his bedroom. Molly came eagerly, carefully closing and locking the door behind him. When he turned, Caleb was in the center of the room, near the small desk near the fireplace, arms crossed.

“Did you forget how to tell time, Mollymauk?” Caleb’s tone was light, teasing, but the glint in his eyes indicated that Molly should choose his words carefully.

“Ah, no, I - I just forgot that you said that, I was a bit, um, taken aback last night, and I must have missed the part where-"

Caleb strode across the room and cupped Molly’s chin in one hand, silencing him instantly. Molly was a bit of a brat in bed, accustomed to fighting with those who tried to tame him. He was defiant, mouthy and loved every second of punishment he got as a result; it made the moments when he finally got his way so much sweeter. Normally, he would have continued to justify himself, babbling on with some flattering bullshit, but the second he felt the tips of Caleb’s fingers on his jaw, his mouth stopped of its own accord.

“I gave you only two instructions before we parted last night, and I thought they were relatively simple. Did you disobey me on the other one, too?”

“N-no,” Molly whispered, heat flaring in his gut. “I didn’t.”

“Well then. At least you are _capable_ of following directions.”

Molly’s jaw would have been on the ground if Caleb didn’t have it so securely in his hand. He’d _never_ heard Caleb talk like this. Molly thought he’d seen the man when he forced the reins of a situation into his own hand. That was nothing compared to the easy slide into authority and confidence that he was seeing now. The self-assuredness of it, the implication that naturally, even if it took some wrangling to bend him to Caleb’s will, Molly _would_ submit, was devastatingly sexy.

“As I assumed, I will need to teach you to actually try following them.”

Caleb’s hand dropped from Molly’s face and he turned to sit at the desk. Molly simply stood in the middle of the room, unsure what was happening now. Was Caleb calling it off? Was he telling Molly they were finished for the night, since he’d been bad? Suddenly, Caleb snapped his fingers, not looking at Molly, and pointed to the floor next to him. Molly sucked in a breath.

“Do you want me to do something?” He sniped, trying not to let the intensity of his arousal show in his voice. Caleb turned to look at him, blue eyes blazing.

“I was under the impression you were clever, _Kätzchen._ Come. Kneel.”

Molly felt that warm, hazy relaxation coming over him that told him he was in a safe place now, a place he could let go. He strode over to Caleb and kneeled beside him, careful to keep his back straight and eyes lowered.

“Mmmm, good boy,” Caleb hummed. “You kneel so beautifully, Kitten _.”_ Caleb bent down to press a kiss to Molly’s forehead, which made the tiefling purr with satisfaction.

“I’m sorry I was early,” Molly mumbled, feeling genuinely sheepish. “I was excited.” Caleb’s smile softened.

“There was a small part of me that was hoping you might come by early.” Molly’s tail started to patter on the floor next to him and he beamed. “But, you must always pay attention when I’m speaking to you, particularly if you are getting instructions. Not only because you are mine, and I expect you to be obedient, but because sometimes, they are important to keeping you safe, and I always want you to be safe.” Molly nodded.

“I know, I know, you’re right, I’m sorry-“

“Shh. Do not be sorry. Be good. Because you did not listen when I was telling you something, I will not fuck you tonight.” Molly’s stomach clenched, his hole already fluttering in protest that it wouldn’t be filled.

“But I apologized!”

“Ja, I know you did.” Caleb threaded a hand through Molly’s hair, eyes back on his books. “But you did not listen in the first place. Take your punishment without complaint or you will have another.” Molly grumbled but stayed put, eyes downcast.

“Why do I have to be punished though? Don’t I get a Mulligan here, just one?” The corner of Caleb’s mouth quirked up into a smirk.

“Nein. If I were to let you get away with bad behavior the first time, you will think you can do it always without consequence. I am training you to be obedient, Mollymauk.”

“But I am!” Caleb’s gaze turned to Molly sharply.

“You are not. And if I were less tolerant, by now you would be locked out of this room on your ass, forbidden from touching yourself for another week. Be grateful.” Molly tipped his head back and sighed in frustration.

“So what would you have me do, then?” Caleb’s eyes turned back to his books.

“You are going to kneel here.”

“For how long?!”

“For as long as I decide I want you to. When I change my mind, you will have another instruction.”

The sigh of frustration became a groan. Caleb steadfastly ignored him. With a huff, Molly settled into a very pretty, but more comfortable kneeling position, earning a pleased noise of acknowledgement from Caleb, who carded his fingers through Molly’s hair from time to time as he read. After a while, Molly let himself slip into the fog of submission, listening to the rhythmic rustle of Caleb’s pages, the occasional scratching of a quill, waiting for the next graze of Caleb’s hand over his head. Truly, Molly had no idea how long he was down there like that. Sometimes he looked up at Caleb, watching him study intently, admiring the cut of his jaw and the way the candlelight caught his copper waves. He wasn’t sure how much time passed before Caleb’s fingers slid under his chin again gently. He tilted Molly’s face up slightly and smiled. That satisfied little smile was like an aphrodisiac to Molly. He wanted to elicit that again and again and again.

“How are you feeling, _Kätzchen?”_ Caleb asked softly.

“Good…” Molly murmured, looking up through soft, half-lidded eyes.

“Good,” Caleb repeated, stroking Molly’s head. Caleb rose from the desk; Molly shifted to get up, but was stopped by a sharp glance from Caleb.

“I did not tell you to move.” Molly nodded mutely and stayed where he was. Caleb rummaged in his bedside drawer and retrieved two thin scarves. When he walked back to Molly, he nodded his head closer to the desk.

“Under there.”

“Still kneeling?” Molly squirmed.

“Are you in pain? I can give you a pillow. Or you may stretch your legs, if you like.”

“No, no, I’m okay.”

“Then yes, still kneeling.”

Molly felt a little pang of affection for Caleb’s tenderness, his concern. The soft, warm haze of being owned was ebbing and flowing inside him, like waves lapping against the shore. He knew he was safe with Caleb, trusted Caleb; however, Molly had slept with people before who he was technically safe with, people who stopped when asked, but who didn’t spare much of a thought for Molly’s comfort.

When Molly had positioned himself under the desk, Caleb sat, causing Molly to breathe a little harder. He was so close now, maybe closer than he’d ever been, Molly could reach out and touch the mouth-watering hint of hardness that was starting to appear in Caleb’s trousers. He let out a slight moan when Caleb produced a periwinkle blue scarf and held it up to Molly’s eyes, pausing for a moment to give Molly the opportunity to voice any objection before he secured it behind Molly’s head. The scarf was thin and silky, the pressure comforting, and Molly breathed in the scent of Caleb, sweet and rich and herbal. Molly wondered idly if Caleb ever wore these scarves, or only kept them aside for sex. One part of him hoped Caleb did wear them, as he imagined how pretty the periwinkle would look with his eyes, but another part of him experienced a heady rush of arousal thinking of the scarves as exclusively sex props. Like Caleb had purchased these with just this thing in mind. Once the blindfold was secured, Caleb stroked Molly’s cheek with a calloused thumb.

“Too tight, _Kätzchen_?”

“Perfect, love,” Molly mumbled, totally relaxed despite his excitement. Caleb hummed with approval and took Molly’s jaw in his hand again. Then, Molly felt the tips of two long fingers running over his bottom lip and he whined, opening eagerly. Caleb let Molly suck on his fingers, taking them all the way into his mouth, and then suddenly, he removed them and Molly’s mouth was full of a soft, silky bunched up scarf. All he could do was groan, the sound muffled, and gods, he was so fucking turned on. His tail thumped on the floor beside him and Molly heard Caleb chuckle quietly.

“You may rest your head on my lap.”

Molly wasn’t sure if that was an offer or an order, but either way, he shuffled forward, hands still obediently behind his back, until he felt Caleb’s shins against his chest. Carefully, he laid his cheek on Caleb’s thigh, his excitement heightened by not being able to see. He knew the human’s smell, could feel little movements of his legs under his cheek and shivered when he reached down to run his fingers through Molly’s hair. The closeness was deeply arousing, the anticipation knowing that Caleb’s cock was so close to his face and he couldn’t see or touch it. He wanted to be good as long as it took to get his hands (or mouth) on it, but he was more uncomfortable than last time, and couldn’t help squirming; the spot under the desk was just a little cramped, forcing him to kneel in a more compact position, the scarf was drying out his mouth and he was so hard that the pressure of his pants was becoming almost painful. Caleb paused his writing and let out a huff of irritation and Molly’s cheek stung suddenly with a light _thwap_ from Caleb’s hand.

“You were so good for me before, _Kätzchen,_ kneeling so quiet and pretty. Why can you not do that again?”

Molly sucked in a breath when he felt the ball of Caleb’s foot searching up his thigh, pausing when it found its target. Molly was whining low through his gag, even just the slight friction from Caleb’s foot making him dizzy.

“Hush.” Molly’s tail thumped a few times but he stopped his noises. He could be good, he could be good…. “Is this the problem? You may unlace your pants if it that would help you hold still. If I see you touch yourself, you will wish you had kept them closed.”

Molly quickly reached around and unlaced his trousers, moaning with relief as his cock practically jumped out, and immediately put his hands under his knees to keep them from drifting. He felt deliciously exposed like this, knowing Caleb could see his need, so obviously on display. Caleb made an appreciative hum and gently guided Molly’s head back to his lap, stroking his hair to help him soften back into his hazy state.

“That’s it, Kitten. Just relax.”

Molly purred happily, much more comfortable and content. He loved the rush of sensation that radiated through him when he felt Caleb petting his head or dragging blunt nails over his cheek. Molly let his jaw loosen - the gag was already more tolerable now that it had absorbed some saliva - and settled into his position. Molly floated through the time in a dreamlike fog, the turning of pages and scratchings of a quill forming a soothing backdrop, enhancing his feeling of security. He was protected here, safely ensconced in Caleb’s domain. Nothing could hurt him here, the bad thoughts didn’t have any power over him. The panic that accompanied being in a cramped space, blinded, a foreign substance filling his mouth and cutting off his air, was banished by the knowledge that he only had to say a word and it would end, Caleb would end it. He could be saved. Not like last time.

Molly thought that it had only been a short time, maybe fifteen or twenty minutes, that Caleb had him under the desk, but when he felt the rhythmic stroking of warm knuckles over his cheek, and Caleb slowly pushed up his blindfold, he realized the candles in the room were burning distinctly lower than they had been. He blinked up at Caleb blearily, his eyes adjusting to the light. Molly’s heart fluttered at the sight of Caleb looking down at him, smiling.

“You have done so well, _Kätzchen._ I am very pleased with you.”

Molly’s tail pattered and he beamed, though he couldn’t do much with the scarf still in his mouth. As he lifted his head, he realized there was a wet spot on Caleb’s trousers where he’d drooled a little, his mouth relaxed and open with the gag in it; Caleb didn’t seem to mind. He reached into Molly’s mouth and pulled out the soaked fabric, putting it aside and reaching back down to rub Molly’s jaw.

“How are you feeling?”

“Amazing…” Molly slurred, putting his cheek back down on Caleb’s lap.

“Excellent. You have been a good boy for me, Mollymauk. Good boys get rewarded.” Caleb reached down and unlaced his own trousers, which Molly saw now were straining over his erection. Molly licked his lips in anticipation, his mouth watering. As soon as he saw the first peek of pink skin, he moaned and looked up at Caleb, eyes pleading.

“Please…”

“You may.” Molly sighed with relief and surged forward, yanking Caleb’s trousers open and putting his lips around the gorgeous thick cock that sprang free. He’d seen Caleb naked before, caught glimpses at the baths in moments before the human concealed himself as best he could beneath the water, but never hard, and he was surprised at how big Caleb was. It wasn’t as big as Fjord’s - gods, Molly had been sore for _days_ after that little tumble - but a little above average for a human, as far as Molly knew, and he moaned in delight as the taste of Caleb filled his mouth. He loved giving head, and he was damn _good_ at it, as he was reminded when he started working his tongue around Caleb’s shaft and heard Caleb choke on his breath. The sensation of having his mouth stretched around a lover, using his lips to cover his sharp canines, his nose filled with the other person’s musk, was consuming in a way Molly found addictive. Grinning wickedly, Molly pulled off and stuck out his forked tongue, bringing Caleb’s cock into his mouth teasingly slow as his tongue ran down the underside, all the way to the base. Caleb groaned above him, one hand on Molly’s horn, the other gripping the edge of the desk.

The sight was divine, Caleb’s cheeks were flushed and his eyes were dark with want. Molly was leaking with desire but resisted the urge to reach down and touch himself. Molly was showing Caleb how good he could be, how grateful he was to be the one kneeling at his feet, and he would be damned if he broke a rule while he was showing off how obedient he could be.

Caleb seemed to be holding the desk in one white-knuckled hand in order to ground himself and slow his climax, but once Molly pulled Caleb’s foreskin back with his tongue and started to suck on the head, Molly knew that proposition was a losing one. Caleb slammed his hand down on the desk and cursed loudly, his hand flying to his mouth to cover it. His shaking fingers continued to hold Molly’s horn, but Molly was merciless, taking Caleb all the way back into his throat, humming, knowing the vibrations would go all the way up Caleb’s spine. Caleb was panting and moaning above him, and Molly winked at him, earning a breathless laugh. Molly reached up to massage Caleb’s balls, and the only warning he got was a gasp and “ _Oh, Scheisse-“_ before Caleb released down his throat. Molly groaned, his eyes fluttering shut, as he swallowed it down, his own cock dripping with need. When Caleb’s cock stopped jerking in his throat, Molly pulled off, laying gentle kisses and soft suckling along the length to lick up the last of Caleb’s spend. Molly sighed, contented, and laid his cheek against Caleb’s thigh again, that beautiful haze of submission still washing over him in warm, comforting waves.

“I did not realize you were so talented in that department,” Caleb said, breathless, as he pet Molly’s cheek. “Or we may have started with that. Though I fear that if I let you do that too much, you may suck the soul out of my body.”

“Thank you,” Molly murmured, eyes half shut. Saying words was a lot of energy right now….

“I would like to give you the second part of your reward, _Kätzchen_.” It wasn’t a question, but Caleb clearly expected Molly to answer. Molly nodded eagerly, his tail thumping beside him. Caleb grinned and scooted his chair out from the table, fixing his trousers and relacing them.

“Then undress and get on the bed.”

Molly jumped up, almost hitting his head on the underside of the desk, and scrambled over to the bed, pulling his shirt up at the same time as he was wriggling out of his pants and almost fell flat on the ground. Caleb whipped around at the noise, just as he was removing his own shirt, and his mouth quirked up into a smile.

“Be careful, ja, baby? I do not think you want me to have to bring Jester in here so you can explain why you broke your ankle tangled up in your own pants.” Molly couldn’t help but laugh at that, imagining Jester’s reaction and how she’d never let him live it down.

Molly got on the bed carefully, trying not to put too much pressure or friction on his cock. He was stimulated now to the point of pain, and wanted Caleb to throw him on the mattress and have at him, but he’d already been told he wasn’t getting fucked tonight and needed to cum _now._

As if he could smell Molly’s desire, Caleb took his time, folding his shirt before putting it back in the drawer, making sure his quills and parchment were neat and even picking up the scarves and putting them with the washing before finally stepping over to the bed. Molly bit his lip to keep himself quiet, but he was so turned on he could cry, and every second Caleb wasn’t on him was enough to make him want to scream. By sheer force of want, he was quiet and still. He’d been so good, done everything exactly how he was supposed to, pleased Caleb with his mouth - he wasn’t going to risk his reward by being impatient.

Finally, after what felt like an absolute eternity, Caleb climbed on the bed and perched over Molly like a cat who caught a mouse.

“You have been very pleasing to me tonight, Kitten.” He pulled Molly up, holding Molly’s face in his hands, and brought him in for a long, languid, sensual kiss. Molly sighed and wrapped his arms around Caleb’s neck, pulling him in for more. Molly opened his mouth eagerly, letting Caleb play his tongue over Molly’s lips, explore his mouth at his pace. Caleb began kissing over Molly’s neck and shoulders, his lips and tongue following patterns drawn in scar and ink. When he reached Molly’s nipples, he looked up.

“I assume that if I give you much more teasing it will be over quite quickly, ja?” Molly blushed.

“Yes. Sorry. I’m - I’m really ready.” Caleb nodded and pressed a kiss to Molly’s sternum. Gods, his eyes were gorgeous.

“No need to apologize, baby. This is for you. It would be unacceptable for you to leave here unsatisfied.”

Caleb shifted down the bed so his face was level with Molly’s dick, and Molly’s heart started racing in excitement. Caleb winked at him and took Molly into his mouth, just for a second, but just that was enough to make Molly gasp and arch up. Caleb put an arm securely over Molly’s hips to keep him down. He blew gently over Molly’s spit slicked cock, making Molly shiver and whine. Every touch felt magnified, like Caleb was sending lightning through him with every graze of his fingers or lips.

“Mmm, love those pretty noises,” Caleb murmured, spreading Molly’s legs further. “Let me hear more, _Kätzchen._ Show me how desperate you are. _”_

Molly groaned at that, his sinewy chest and stomach rising and falling hard with his needy panting. Caleb pushed Molly’s thighs apart and Molly _keened_ when he realized what he was getting; Caleb smirked, stupid fucking handsome bastard, and ran his tongue over Molly’s pucker. Molly whimpered and squirmed and Caleb pushed his thighs up into his chest, humming with satisfaction as he rubbed and squeezed Molly’s ass in his hands.

“Ohhhhh, fuck,” Molly moaned, throwing his head back as Caleb sucked his balls, teasing the outer edges of Molly’s hole with his thumbs. He felt like every pleasure center was getting stimulated, but it was all not enough. He rocked his hips up into Caleb, silently begging for more, and Caleb stopped, raising one severe eyebrow and slapping Molly on the ass.

“Do not forget who is in charge here.” Molly nodded.

“Yes, you’re right, I’m sorry…” Molly bit his lip but couldn’t help but squirm under Caleb’s attention. Caleb kept him constantly guessing, surprising him with little nips to his cheeks, running the tip of his tongue just around the edges of where Molly wanted him. Molly threaded his fingers through Caleb’s hair, praise spilling from his lips in desperate whispers,

“Oh Caleb, fuck, that feels amazing…you’re so good at this, gods, please, please, I want to- haaaaa, that’s good - cum for you…I’m yours, oh I’m yours and I’m loving -ah!- every second of it. Ohhhhh, fuck…”

Molly could feel his thighs trembling, and then Caleb’s hand went to his cock and he was lost, the sounds coming out of him far from any language, his hips moving of their own accord. Just as he was on the brink, high pitched whines coming out of him as Caleb’s tongue pushed into him, Caleb stopped, slowing his strokes to almost nothing. Molly hissed out a breath, back arching, his ascent to orgasm aborted.

“Please, pleasepleaseplease, please don’t, nonono, let me cum-“ Caleb paused, stopping his hand and Molly practically sobbed.

“Still green, baby?”

“ _Yes, godsdammit, I just want to cum_ ,” Molly cried, one hand over his face. Caleb kept stroking him like that, slow and lazy, for what felt like forever, but then finally, blessedly, licked his hand to slick Molly’s cock again, bent back down and worked his tongue back into Molly’s ass. Molly arched up off the bed, choking out a sob, and this time Caleb didn’t stop, pulling out and blowing a stream of cool breath over Molly’s wet, loose hole as Molly came with a yelp. He came so hard his release streaked up his chest, and floated back down to earth slowly, panting and shaking. He looked down and saw Caleb still resting on his stomach between his legs, nuzzling into his inner thigh. Caleb stroked Molly’s legs, watching him carefully, as Molly came down off his orgasm.

“I am going to get up to get something to clean you with,” Caleb said softly. “Is that alright?” Molly nodded, exhausted. Caleb pressed a kiss to Molly’s thigh and walked over to retrieve the washbasin and a cloth. Molly watched as he held the basin in his hand and suddenly it started to steam. Molly smiled a little at the kindness of Caleb warming the water for him.

Caleb wet the cloth and sat back on the edge of the bed, squeezing out the excess. He held it to Molly’s shoulder.

“Too hot?”

“No, perfect,” Molly slurred. He let his eyes fall shut as Caleb wiped him clean. He’d never had a lover do this for him before. He didn’t realize how nice it was to get clean right after sex rather than letting all the sweat and spit and cum and oil and gods knew what else dry on you and washing it off later. Maybe he could get used to this “getting taken care of after” thing. He opened his eyes when he felt Caleb stand, and watched quietly as the human took off his trousers, cleaned up and went to the dresser for pajamas. Molly had been so lost in a fog of lust he hadn’t really taken the time before to appreciate Caleb’s body, but now he indulged, his eyes drinking in broad shoulders, sinewy muscle, smooth thighs and a surprisingly cute ass. He hadn’t really noticed before, but Caleb also didn’t have Molly’s penchant for tight pants.

Caleb turned and started when he realized Molly was watching, and his face flushed a pretty pink. Molly grinned, his tail swishing lazily behind him. Molly slid under the top blanket as Caleb returned to the bed, suddenly feeling a little self conscious about being the only naked one, but Caleb didn’t seem to mind; he settled into bed and sat against the headboard, holding his arm out for Molly to come closer, if he wanted. Molly snuggled in, slotting himself against Caleb’s side and resting his head on Caleb’s chest. He purred with contentment as Caleb’s arm draped over him. Caleb’s other hand went to Molly’s head, carding through his hair soothingly.

“Did you enjoy that?” Caleb asked quietly. “Was it…what you were looking for?”

“Absolutely, darling,” Molly replied, playing with the hand Caleb had slung over his chest. “It was divine. I can’t wait to do it again.”

“Was there anything you did not care for? Would have wanted me to do differently?”

“Yeah, I want you to fuck me next time.” Caleb laughed at that and Molly followed; Caleb’s giggle was infectious.

“But there was nothing else? I wanted to say, I’m sorry I did not, ah, give you a more sufficient warning before - ah, before. It caught me off guard.”

“Happens to the best of us.”

“Still, I will do my best next time not to surprise you. And the title? Did that work for you?” Molly wiggled against Caleb suggestively and purred.

“Mmmm, Kitten? Yes, I like it _very_ much.”

“Ja, alright then. Is there anything you need? Water? I can get you water.” Molly thought for a second.

“Yeah, that’d be nice, I mean, if you’re getting up.” Caleb shook his head and stood. Molly found himself regretting the loss of Caleb against him, wished he’d said no to the offer.

“It’s no trouble.” He watched as Caleb disappeared through the door, silent as a cat, and snuggled into the sheets. He’d go back to his own room. In a minute. The unfamiliar scent of the sheets was exciting and intimate and Molly didn’t really want to go anywhere…. Caleb returned only a minute later with a glass of water for Molly. He sat on the edge of the bed, not returning to his prior place, and Molly took that as a sign that it was time for him to depart. He drank down the water quickly and jumped up to get dressed. When he reached the door, Caleb stood and pulled him in for one last kiss, sweet and almost chaste.

“Good night, Mollymauk.”

“Good night, Caleb.”

Molly lingered a moment and then stepped through the door, purposefully walking to the door of the library without looking back at Caleb’s bedroom. He heard the door shut softly behind him just as he reached out to turn the handle on the library door, and then allowed himself to look back. Fuck. That was _great_ sex. Molly couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such good sex, and he hadn’t even gotten fucked. As he settled into his own bed, pushing down the resentment that it was cold and he was in it alone, he tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach as he let the warmth of the evening spread through his bones, relaxing him, and carry him off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! This is intended to be a multi-chap long fic if people end up liking it, mostly PWP except for some extremely thin and probably gratuitously deus ex machina plot that serves to provide more opportunities for hot sex, if my other work is any indication. (Though I say that about every fic and then usually end up unable to resist some kind of plot...we'll see!)
> 
> The author is a bottomless pit of need into which validation (in the form of kudos and comments) is inserted and new chapters are dispensed. ❤️


	2. the night is lovely as a rose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your patience and encouragement!!! ❤️This is 8k and filthy enough to make your hair fall out. You've been warned.
> 
> EDIT: Apparently by 8k words I meant 10k words. Whoops.

Molly woke up the morning after his first time with Caleb more refreshed than he’d been in ages. His sleep was dreamless and genuinely restful, and he stretched out in the sheets contentedly with a smile. The only thing he could think about was how soon he could do it again.

They hadn’t actually set expectations for frequency. Both had agreed that the other could approach them privately whenever, as neither felt any compunction about saying no if they were busy or not in the mood, but Molly realized he didn’t have any idea how often Caleb wanted to do this.

Molly also didn’t want to be overbearing, or drive Caleb away, so he didn’t want to approach anytime soon. But…he could do what he did best, and be irresistible enough to entice _Caleb_ to initiate. Then, he’d get a sense of whether the man was as unflappable as he’d seemed with Molly at his feet last night. Molly felt a little thrill go through him at the visceral memory. Yes, he certainly needed to get back in that room as soon as possible.

For the next week, Molly was incorrigible.

The first two days, he left well enough alone, merely making sure he looked his best and swiping on a hint of makeup to enhance his most attractive features. Molly didn’t notice much of a difference in his interactions with Caleb, though they certainly felt different to him, an exciting shiver coursing up his spine whenever Caleb’s blue eyes locked on him. But Molly didn’t think Caleb’s gaze even lingered on him. If anyone had been watching Caleb’s behavior carefully, Molly doubted they’d have thought anything was out of the ordinary.

So he started to up the ante, making more of an effort to show off his body, leaving an extra button undone on his shirt, tucking it in neatly so his ass was on perfect display in his tight pants. If Molly found himself in a room with Caleb, alone or not, he took any opportunity to stretch his limbs out, or bend over to “pick something up”, or, if that felt too obvious, just make sure he was sitting in such a way to show off his most flattering angles. That got him a bit more of a reaction; though Caleb was careful to contain it, Molly noticed Caleb’s eyes on him a little longer than they needed to be, or Caleb glancing him over appreciatively when he thought Molly wasn’t looking.

Still, nothing.

Molly made excuses to come see Caleb in the library in the middle of the day. He “just had a question”, or brought tea, or just came to “check in”, and in the privacy of the library, felt at somewhat more liberty to be an outrageous flirt. To be fair, this wasn’t tremendously different from how he’d been with Caleb before any of this started - “outrageous flirt” was Molly’s middle name - but now the air between them crackled with possibility, like the first breath after a lightning strike. This part made him a little uneasy, since other than saying they both obviously wanted to be discreet about this, they hadn’t set clear boundaries around when it was acceptable to engage in flirtatious behavior. Molly had made it clear that he wasn’t seeking any kind of power play that went beyond the walls of the bedroom, and Caleb felt the same, but Molly was still unclear about whether he was supposed to pretend their arrangement didn’t exist even when it was just the two of them. He was encouraged one day when he came to the library to bring Caleb a cup of tea and found an excuse to stay and chat a moment, leaning on the edge of the desk.

“Don’t work too hard, darling, you’ll forget how to have fun,” Molly had said with a smirk, brushing invisible lint off Caleb’s shoulder.

“Ah, ja, you are assuming I knew how in the first place. Thank you for the tea, Mollymauk.” He squeezed Molly’s knee, and Molly grinned, giving his hips a little extra swivel on the way out. He would’ve sworn he felt Caleb’s eyes on him as he left, though when he snuck a glance over his shoulder, the wizard’s gaze was firmly on his books.

The incident that finally got Molly what he wanted came just over a week after their initial tryst, and Molly was going crazy by then. He hadn’t been told not to touch himself, and it was a good thing, because the memory was far too arousing even days later. They were going out for a drink that night, as a group, and Molly made sure he looked stunning. He put on a soft grey-blue cotton shirt that was casual, but his chest peeked out of the V-neck in a very attractive fashion, and tucked it into a pair of gray pants that hugged his butt perfectly. It was too warm out for his coat, but he threw on a silver necklace and his most attention-grabbing horn jewelry, and galloped down the stairs to meet the group. Jester, Fjord, Caleb and Beau were already downstairs, and Molly was quite satisfied to see Caleb’s gaze drag over him a little longer than usual. He did his best not to look back, giving Caleb only a cursory glance like the rest of the group. Playing hard to get wasn’t Molly’s usual style, but he was starting to get the sense that Caleb liked the chase.

“Damn, you look good,” Beau said. “Trying to go on the prowl tonight?” Molly looked pointedly at Beau, who had clearly bathed and put on her Expositor coat even though it was too hot outside for an outer layer. Even Caleb was just in his shirtsleeves and book holsters. Molly shrugged, coy.

“Maybe. Is that a hint of judgment I hear? From Beauregard Heartbreaker Lionett?” Beau rolled her eyes, but smiled.

“Not doing much heartbreaking these days.”

“Well let’s see if we can’t remedy that tonight, darling, that’s a tragedy if I’ve ever heard one.”

Nott, Caduceus and Yasha finally made their way downstairs, and the group set off to their favorite Rosohna haunt, the Jagged Branch. The place felt like many of the bars the group had spent nights in on the road, no frills but relatively clean, friendly, didn’t mind an oddball group like theirs rolling through, which was part of why Molly, at least, liked it so much. They could have been in Hupperdook, Nicodranas, or Uthodurn, and aside from the demographics of the clientele, one would never know the difference. Molly and Beau went to the bar for a round while the rest of the group claimed their usual corner table.

“See anyone that piques your interest?” Molly murmured to Beau.

“We’ve basically been here five minutes, so no, not yet. You’re really raring to go tonight, huh?” Molly tried not to let too much of a smile creep onto his face.

“I guess. But really, dear, we must get _you_ laid, seeing as it’s apparently been so terribly long since you worshipped at the altar of-“ Molly was cut off by the bartender coming by for their orders. The two paid for a round through snickers and went back to sit with the group. Molly squeezed between Yasha and Caleb - it really was the only opening, he told himself - and Beau nudged Caduceus with her elbow until he slid aside so she could sit between him and Jester.

It wasn’t long before the bartender came with their drinks, and the seven started recounting the week, discussing developments in their individual and group pursuits as they worked towards arranging a peace between nations.

Molly’s attention drifted in and out, wanting to focus, but finding himself far too aware of Caleb’s hip against his, the warm laugh of the wizard next to him and the way their elbows occasionally bumped when they both went for their ales at the same time. Molly felt a little childish, but this part of a new fling was always a lot of fun, and why shouldn’t he get to enjoy it? If every little thing Caleb said or did was like catnip to him, well, that was part of the fun. The tiefling loved to love, and though he knew this little infatuation was passing and only the result of their newly intimate relationship, he reveled in the feeling of being so enthralled by another person.

When the Nein’s glasses started to look dangerously close to empty, Molly gestured for another round. He was hoping to have a good night tonight, if not with Caleb, then with someone, and he wanted to get comfortably drunk in the process.

“Let’s play a game!” Jester suggested, her voice sweet as honey, but Molly recognized that glint of mischief in her eye.

“What game, Jester?” Molly asked, taking the bait immediately.

“I learned it when I was a teenager from some of the like younger girls who worked at the Chateau. We’d like, hangout and have slumber parties and stuff when they weren’t working. Okay, so like, I ask Molly, do you want to answer a question, or do you want to like, do something? And then Molly picks and I give him a question, or a thing to do, and-“

“Are you talking about truth or dare?” Beau asked with an incredulous face. “Aren’t we a little old for that, Jes?”

“Why does being an adult mean you can’t play games anymore?” Molly raised his hands in a gesture that said, “she’s got a point.”

“I’ll play with you, Jester,” Molly volunteered. Jester giggled and leaned into the table.

“Okaaaaay! If you pick truth you have to _actually_ tell the truth, okay?” Molly raised his eyebrows and put a hand to his heart.

“You’re suggesting that _I_ might lie to you? I am shocked you won’t take me at my word.” Jester stuck her tongue out at Molly playfully and he laughed. “Come on, darling, gimme your worst.”

Some of the Nein were still having side conversations, but Caduceus, Nott and Caleb were listening intently with amused expressions.

“Okay, then, Molly, truth, or dare?”

“Truth, as I am always an honest man.” He heard Caleb snort derisively next to him and feigned offense. “I am truly surrounded by traitors of the highest class if all of you trust me so little.”

“Soooo, Molly, what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever had _sex_?”

“Gods, Jester, right out the gate with the personal questions, huh?” Fjord’s conversation with Yasha stalled as soon as Jester’s words came out.

“Oh, Jester knows who she’s talking to. Let’s see…lots of choices. On a circus cart traveling between cities? Backstage during a show?”

“During a _show_?!” Jester gasped.

“Yeah, had to be real quiet. Anyway, now what? Do I ask you something?”

“Me, or whoever you want!” Molly looked around, pointedly not looking at Caleb.

“Let’s see…Nott, are you playing?” The goblin took a swig of whiskey.

“Sure, why not?”

“That’s the spirit. Truth, or dare?”

“Dare!” The whole table was invested now. Molly grinned and turned to Caduceus.

“Dear, do you have your spice pouch on you?” The firbolg looked around at his belt.

“Sure do.” He handed it to Molly, who made a great show of fishing around in it to a chorus of giggles and concerned noises around the table. Finally finding his prize, Molly pulled out a big clove of garlic with a flourish. Nott raised an eyebrow.

“Do you just want me to eat that?” Molly chuckled.

“No, of course not.” He pulled out one of his daggers, smashed the clove on the table, and deposited it into Nott’s full whiskey glass. The Nein groaned loudly with disgust, but Molly only crossed his arms and looked at Nott, the challenge apparent in his expression. She narrowed her eyes and emptied the glass in one long swig, clove and all, slammed it down on the table, and the table went nuts, clapping and cheering and laughing.

“My turn!” Nott crowed. “Jester, truth or dare?”

“Dare, obviously.”

“Give Fjord a kiss on the neck!” Nott came up with that so quickly that Molly wouldn’t have been surprised if she and Jester had planned it ahead of time. Fjord’s cheeks immediately darkened, and he started,

“Uhhhh, you don’t have to do that, Jester-“

“Do you not want me to?” She asked sweetly.

“No, I mean, it’s fine, if you want to-“ Jester scooted closer and planted a big kiss right under Fjord’s jaw. Molly didn’t miss the white knuckled grip Fjord had on the table and the flush that went down to the collar of his shirt. Apparently nobody else missed it either, because the poor guy had to suffer a round of good-natured teasing.

“Oooh, Fjord, you’re even more green!”

“Looks like he liked that, Jester!”

Molly also noticed that Jester didn’t move back to her previous position after, and stayed close to Fjord. He caught her eye and tossed a wink. She grinned wickedly and wiggled her eyebrows.

“Okay, Beau!” Jester sang. “Truth or dare?”

“Dare, obviously,” Beau snorted.

“Okay, do a hundred squats!”

“I’m surprised that’s your dare, Jes,” Beau teased, already getting up. “I basically do that every morning.”

“Should be an easy dare then,” Jester replied with a smile. She locked her eyes on Molly and he suddenly heard Jester’s voice in her head. _Hey! Go tell that cute girl at the bar, the one in the teal top, that Beau’s buying her a drink._ Molly stood, cool as a cucumber, and sauntered up to the bar, sidling up to the drow woman Jester had pointed out.

“Hey, how’s your night going?” He asked, extending a hand. “Molly.” The woman took it after a moment’s hesitation and gave a brief shake.

“Aune. Nice to meet you, Molly. My night’s going alright, yours?”

“Pretty good, I have to say, darling. Now, let me get to the real reason I’m here. See my, friend over there thinks you’re mighty gorgeous and would like to buy you a drink, but she’s a bit too shy to come up and say so. Would you allow me, perhaps, to buy you a drink on her behalf?” Aune glanced over at the table that Molly had gestured toward.

“Which one?”

“Ah, the one doing the squats. She’s a monk, actually. Quite a learned lady, under that tough exterior. What are you drinking?” Aune looked Beau over for a moment.

“….Wine.” Molly nodded and ordered. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me, love, thank Beauregard. Though I think if you take her up on a second drink, you might be thanking me in the morning.” Molly winked and walked back to the table, sliding into his seat like nothing unusual had taken place. He did, however, sit a bit closer to Caleb this time, and let his knee rest against the human’s. He took it as a good omen for the rest of his night that Caleb didn’t move away. As Beau continued her set, with Jester counting loudly, he noticed Aune watching, a small smile on her face, and Molly nodded at Jester in confirmation. A giant smile spread over her face, but she didn’t stop counting. Once Beau hit a hundred, the Nein cheered, and she dropped back onto the bench with a sigh and a smirk.

“Easy. Told you.” She drained her glass and looked around. “Anyone else _not_ want another round?” Nobody begged off, so Beau caught the bartender’s eye and gestured to bring more. “Let’s see, who next…Molly?”

“Truth again.”

“Alright…hmm…” Beau was having some trouble thinking of an answer, so Jester leaned in and whispered in her ear. “Yeah, that’s good…Molly, got any kinks?” Molly laughed. He let the spade of his tail drift down and tickle the back of Caleb’s leg.

“Oh, darling, I’m not sure you have enough time for _that_.”

“Yeah, you’re right, I actually don’t think I want to know the answer to that one.”

“Just say one, then!” Jester interjected, giggling. Molly tapped his fingers on the table, thinking, or at least appearing to.

“Hmm…I do enjoy being bossed around.” Molly felt Caleb shift next to him and take a long drink of ale, and Molly kept his expression still as he slid his tail further up Caleb’s pant leg.

“Like being a _slave_?” Jester gasped. Molly shrugged.

“Oh yes, it’s all very theatrical, isn’t it? Kneeling on the floor, getting blindfolded and gagged, that kind of thing.”

Molly didn’t dare to glance over at Caleb. One major benefit of being a tiefling was Molly’s sensitive nose, and especially so close, the slight shift in Caleb’s scent made his arousal obvious to Molly. Caleb cleared his throat and crossed one leg over the other, bouncing his foot nervously. The bartender came over just then with a tray of drinks, but when Beau went to pay, he shook his head.

“Ah, a gift from the lady.” He nodded towards Aune, who raised her glass, making eye contact with Beau. Beau flushed and raised hers back.

“I’m uh, I’m gonna go talk to her,” Beau mumbled once the bartender walked away. Molly wolf-whistled as she shuffled off, and Jester cried, “Get it, Beau!”

“Pick someone else, Molly!” Jester urged.

“I yield my pick to you, darling.” Jester grinned wickedly.

“Caaaayleeeeeb,” she sang, her chin in her hands, staring at him. Molly could feel him stiffen, looking like Nott getting caught shoplifting. “Truth? Or dare?”

“Ah, truth.” Jester narrowed her eyes at him, her mischievous smile almost endearing if Molly didn’t know she was trying to figure out the best way to make Caleb squirm.

“Hmm…you’re so _mysterious_ , Cayleb…have you ever, like, had sex with more than one person? Like a threesome or something?” The corner of Caleb’s mouth quirked up into a smile.

“Ja, sure.”

Even Molly whipped around to look at him in disbelief. Caleb didn’t flinch, just raised his glass back to his mouth. Jester practically screamed.

“Oh my GOSH Cayleb, really?! Was it like, with your old girlfriend? Who was the other person??” Caleb shrugged.

“You asked your question, I answered it. My turn now, ja?”

The game continued for a few more rounds, and Molly’s sides hurt from laughing by the time it was Jester’s go again. She narrowed her eyes at Caleb.

“Cayleb! Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” Molly could’ve told her that would happen, if only for the pleasure of teasing Jester by withholding information. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Fine. Kiss Molly. On the mouth!” Molly grinned and turned to his left.

“Don’t keep a man waiting, darling.”

Caleb rolled his eyes and ducked in for a quick, chaste peck, but Molly took him by the shirt and pulled him in, surprising Caleb and giving him a hot, open-mouthed kiss. Molly didn’t prolong it _too_ much, but he did run his tongue over Caleb’s bottom lip before he pulled away, earning quite a few whistles and hollers from the rest of the table. The heat in Caleb’s eyes was unmistakeable, and Molly leaned back, arms crossed with a smirk, as Jester and Nott collapsed in a fit of giggles.

That momentary press of lips ignited the desire in Molly’s core and he let his tail drift over to Caleb’s leg again, so enthralled with the teasing he wasn’t even paying attention to the game anymore. Only another round or two passed before Caleb stood and went up to the bar. Molly kept an eye on him, but couldn’t decipher the contents of the conversation. The bartender looked a little confused, but Caleb passed her another few silver, she nodded, and got another pitcher ready. Molly turned back to the table so it wouldn’t be too obvious that he was staring.

“I got a round for the table, but I am going to head home,” Caleb announced when he returned, depositing the pitcher on the table. “It has been a very, ah, interesting evening, but I’m getting tired. Good night.”

Molly felt his stomach sink a little. He was kicking himself for being so forward before, exactly what he knew he’d do, he always mucked up good things for himself. If he went to follow, it would raise suspicions, and only make him look desperate. Molly peered around the bar for anyone interesting looking - he _had_ planned to get laid tonight no matter what Caleb’s plans were - but aside from Aune and Beau, who were clearly getting on quite well, some old timers, and people clearly in groups, there didn’t appear to be many prospects. He scowled and sank into his seat, leaning forward in genuine, but dampened, interest in the conversation.

Not five minutes later, a crisp, Zemnian accented voice filtered into his ear, like a whisper. If Molly didn’t know better, he would have sworn he felt Caleb’s breath on his neck as the words warmed his blood.

_Upstairs, first room on the right. Fifteen minutes._

Molly resisted the urge to jump up right away and slouched casually, sipping his ale like he had nowhere to be but here. The buzz in his ears and heart pounding in his chest was close to overwhelming, but he focused on his breathing and made sure to appear to listen intently to the conversation. He did try to put anything related to Caleb out of his mind, hoping to avoid an uncomfortable display when he did eventually get up. Fifteen minutes. That was enough time that nobody would make the connection, especially since Caleb had announced his departure at least 10 minutes before. Fifteen minutes. That was all. That was nothing. He could do that.

When his silent counting told him that fifteen minutes had passed, Molly did his best, excruciatingly, to get up discreetly and casually.

“Are you leaving, Molly?” Nott asked, sounding surprised. “It’s still early.”

“Just going up to the washroom, dear.”

Molly took the stairs two at a time and when he arrived on the landing, Caleb was leaning against the doorframe of the first room on the right from the stairs, arms crossed. Molly’s face split in a wide grin, and he sauntered over, but as soon as he was in reach, Caleb took Molly’s arm and shoved him roughly inside. Arousal was flooding through Molly already, he loved being manhandled, but his thoughts were cut short when Caleb slammed the door behind him and pushed Molly down to his knees. Molly gasped as his joints hit the wooden floor, and a flicker of concern crossed Caleb’s face, but Molly tossed him a wink to let him know he was fine, and Caleb gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

Caleb fisted his hand in Molly’s hair and pulled back sharply, forcing Molly’s gaze up to meet his. Molly’s breath caught in his throat at the intensity in Caleb’s bright blue eyes. There was no playfulness in his expression, only stern possession. A shiver of fear rolled through him, hot and delicious, and he smiled cheekily up at the human. When Molly opened his mouth to say something snarky, Caleb pushed two fingers into it, surprising Molly and making him moan.

“Nein. I do not want to hear anything from you. You are going to keep quiet tonight, do you understand me?” Molly nodded eagerly. “Are you intoxicated?”

“No. A little buzzed is all.” Molly was having difficulty speaking around Caleb’s fingers, but wouldn’t give them up for anything.

“You remember what to say if you want to stop?”

“Yes, fucking-“ Caleb pressed down on Molly’s tongue with his fingers.

“I told you that you are to remain _quiet_. Do not disobey me, Mollymauk.”

Molly moaned and sucked on Caleb’s fingers harder. Caleb removed them without warning and used the hand tangled in Molly’s hair to push him, gently, but firmly, to the ground, not letting up until Molly’s chest and cheek were flat against the floor. He got down on one knee and, one hand still holding Molly by the hair, reached with the other to press between Molly’s spread legs. Molly was already so aroused and he whined loudly. He felt beautifully, erotically exposed and wanton like this, the wash of submission already coming over his primed and hazy brain.

“Look at you, spread like a slut already.”

Caleb bent and nipped Molly’s ear, his breath already coming hard and hot.

“You have been teasing me all week long,” Caleb murmured. “You think I do not see you, showing off your sweet little body? Driving me crazy with it, practically begging me to fuck you? Coming to distract me from my work in the middle of the day?” Molly groaned, his pants almost painfully tight already. “And then tonight, you couldn’t help yourself, ja? Sweet, needy, desperate Mollymauk… You will get what you have been begging me for, _Kätzchen._ ”

Molly’s tail thumped on the ground beside him, and the rest of his body squirmed in anticipation. Caleb pressed his face more firmly into the floor.

“Tonight, I do not want to hear a sound out of you. Not one word. The only thing I want to hear from your filthy mouth is ‘yes, sir’. Unless you need to tell me to stop or slow down. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Molly groaned, desperate to get out of his tight pants. Caleb slapped him on the ass.

“Yes _what_?”

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s an obedient boy. Get on the bed.”

Holy gods, this was beyond fucking hot. Molly jumped up as soon as Caleb removed his hand, bounding over to the bed with his tail swishing behind him in anticipation.

“Take off your clothes.”

“Yes, _sir_ ,” Molly breathed, hurrying to take off his shoes and shimmy out of his pants. Caleb turned away, methodically beginning to remove his outer layers, placing each on the desk. It occurred to Molly as he sat there, his tail pattering impatiently on the bed beside him, that Caleb could have done this before Molly got up here, and chose not to. Bastard.

When Caleb turned back to him, rolling the sleeves up on his unbuttoned shirt, Molly almost whined with anticipation. His eyes dragged hungrily over Caleb’s throat, down to his chest, dusted with freckles and a bloom of copper hair that Molly wanted to run his fingers through. He was still quite thin, but Molly’s eyes followed the chain of Caleb’s amulet down, searching for ribs, and he could no longer see any, which was a marked improvement over when they first met. Molly wanted to run his tongue down that soft stomach, slide his fingers under the waistband of the trousers that were slung low on Caleb’s hips, push them down-

Molly snapped out of his lust-drunk monologue and realized Caleb had been standing there, arms crossed, watching him stare, for a good long minute. The human walked over to the bed, where Molly was already naked, placed a hand on his shoulder, and shoved him down flat onto the mattress. Caleb climbed on top of him, taking Molly’s hands and pulling them up over his head.

“You are shameless,” he growled. Molly leaned into the stretch, a lusty sigh escaping his lips. That didn’t provoke a reaction, so Molly hoped these wordless noises, at least, were acceptable. “Aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly replied with a smirk, putting as much pride into the submissive phrase as he could manage.

“Look at you…so fucking desperate. If I had taken you like this downstairs, on the table, in front of everyone, I bet you would have just begged for more.” Molly keened, the image flooding his imagination. A sharp pain bloomed in his cheek as Caleb smacked him.

“Answer me.”

“Yes, sir.” The human smirked, rubbing Molly’s cheek where he’d hit. Caleb cupped Molly’s face in his hand, running his thumb over Molly’s lips. Molly immediately opened, his expression purposefully obscene.

“Good boy, remembering your words. Now, you have been behaving absolutely indecently all week long. If you are acting like a slut, I can only assume you want me to treat you like one.”

“Yessss,” Molly moaned. “Sir,” he added hurriedly, when he felt Caleb’s grip tighten in warning.

“Let’s see, what am I going to do with you?” Caleb teased, one hand still pinning one of Molly’s, the other stroking his face. “I could take your pretty little mouth, just like this, you did such a good job sucking me off last time. Would you like that, dirty boy?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly whined, still licking and sucking at the thumb in his mouth. “Mmmmm….” He was so fucking hard, his cock was leaking on his stomach, and he was absolutely entranced, ready to do anything Caleb asked of him. Caleb took his hand from Molly’s face and used it to push Molly’s wrists harder into the mattress.

“Your gorgeous mouth was just made to be stuffed, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, sir….”

“If only I had known when I first met you that all I had to do to shut you up was unbuckle my belt.”

Molly groaned, squeezing his eyes shut and straining against the restraint. He was much stronger than Caleb and easily could have broken the hold if he was really trying, but he struggled a little for show and the way it warmed his gut. Caleb pushed him down harder with a smile.

“I do have to wonder, though, Kitten, how you got so good at that. You were traveling with that circus an awful long time. I bet they all took turns in your tight little throat, didn’t they?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly murmured, breath shaky. It wasn’t true, but that was part of the fun, part of what he liked - agreeing to his own humiliation, encouraging it, validating every cruel, demeaning thing Caleb said about him. Caleb bent down and mouthed at Molly’s neck, lips and tongue and teeth magnified by the desire roaring through Molly’s veins.

“I bet they could have passed you around all they liked and you would have still dropped to your knees for more. It is the only thing you are good at, ja?”

“Yes, sir…”

“That’s right. My needy whore. Although I do not know that that is really right for you, is it? At least whores get paid.”

The bottom dropped out of Molly’s stomach and a memory flashed, unbidden, into his mind, of kneeling down in an alley, the nausea of hunger roiling through his stomach, in front of a man who’d offered him two silvers that he couldn’t refuse. And then, when Molly was wiping his mouth clean, the man had tossed a silver into the alley, half as much as he’d promised, laughing as Molly went scrambling after it like a dog. Molly squeezed his eyes shut and blinked open; Caleb was looking down at him intensely, angry - no, not angry, concerned, clearly aware of the shift in Molly’s demeanor. Not waiting, pausing, to let Molly catch his breath or use one of his words.

“Y-yellow,” Molly choked, pulling in a deep breath, his muscles tense. Caleb immediately stopped, not moving a muscle, only shifting to change his grip on Molly’s wrists from hard and punishing to reassuring and gentle. He gave Molly space, watching his expression carefully. Molly took a few deep breaths, making eye contact with Caleb, letting himself be grounded in the other man’s presence.

“I’m here, Mollymauk,” Caleb murmured, pressing a kiss to Molly’s forehead.

Molly took another deep breath and nodded.

“Would you like to stop, or would you like to keep going?” Caleb asked, stroking Molly’s wrists.

“Keep going,” Molly insisted. “I’m okay, I just - it’s alright, just remembered something I didn’t really want to.” Caleb looked at him intently for a few more seconds, apparently decided to save whatever he wanted to say for later, and then bent down to kiss Molly’s cheek.

“I am so proud of you for using your word, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb whispered. “Such a good boy for me, ja?”

“I’m sorry,” Molly mumbled, hot flush filling his cheeks. He felt silly for calling a pause, like he could’ve just pushed past it, should’ve- Caleb put one hand on Molly’s throat, not squeezing, just present, eliciting a small whine.

“I thought I was clear that you were only allowed to say one thing tonight, ja?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly grumbled, though he was smiling at the feeling of warm fog that was drifting back over him. Caleb smiled back, dipping to take Molly’s mouth in a slow, hot kiss.

“And so when I say that I am proud of you, and that you are very good because you used your word when you needed to, do you agree with me?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly huffed.

“Very good boy.”

Caleb continued to kiss down Molly’s torso, a little more playful, a little less harsh, taking one of Molly’s pierced nipples into his mouth and humming appreciatively. Molly moaned and arched up into the contact, squirming with want.

“I love your pretty noises, Kitten,” Caleb murmured, sliding further down Molly’s body, kissing over sinewy planes of muscle and ink. “I’m so glad you are all mine to play with, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly breathed, fully back under now, hazy and warm and safe in his submission. When Caleb was settled between Molly’s legs, he sat up on his knees and unbuckled his belt, making Molly’s mouth water.

“Look how desperate you are,” he teased, running his hands over Molly’s thighs. Molly whined and stretched out, trying to get more touch, wanting to entice Caleb into taking him sooner- “You just could not possibly wait for me to invite you back to bed, ja? You teased me so viciously all week, trying to get me to give you what you needed.”

“Yes, sir, yes, yes,” Molly moaned, the ache between his legs growing fiercer. Caleb finished removing his belt and bent over Molly again, looping the leather around his neck. Molly’s breath caught in his throat, and immediately started coming in rough, urgent gasps, wanting to beg for it to be secured around his throat but knowing he wasn’t allowed to.

“Oh, do you like this, _Kätzchen_?” Caleb asked innocently, knowing full well that Molly had told him he did. “You like it very much, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir, oh gods, yes-“ Caleb fisted his hand in Molly’s hair and pulled.

“Do not disobey your instructions,” Caleb warned. He let the leather slide over Molly’s skin, not fastening it, just enjoying the increasingly desperate noises Molly was making. After what felt like an eternity, Caleb fixed the belt around Molly’s neck, careful to slide two fingers between skin and leather to make sure it wasn’t too tight. Molly whined, begging wordlessly, so fucking turned on he felt like he might just dissolve. Caleb wrapped the other end of the belt around his fist and tugged it; Molly came up easily, but the belt didn’t get tighter around his throat. Satisfied that the fastening was safe, Caleb grinned and pulled Molly up by the neck to meet his lips. Molly sighed and softened against Caleb’s mouth; he could practically taste the hunger on the other man’s tongue, and it made his belly quiver with anticipation. His poor neglected cock, still swollen and dripping, brushed against Caleb’s stomach and Molly gasped, hips jerking. He groaned and ground into the contact, but Caleb pulled away, still holding the end of the belt so Molly was suspended halfway up; the constriction on his throat was intoxicating.

“If you are going to hump like a bitch in heat, that is how you will be treated.”

“Y-yes, sir,” Molly groaned, hardly able to form words through his fog of lust and submission. Caleb released Molly and let him fall back down to the bed, shifting so he was face to face with Molly again.

“Why do you think I put a _leash_ on you, you brazen, insatiable slut?”

Molly keened, the degrading words sending another bolt of arousal through his pleasure centers. He panted, unable to keep still, every nerve alight, and the way he was exposed, completely nude while Caleb was still mostly clothed, his body on display for the other man, was dizzyingly erotic. He wanted to respond, but bit his lip, trying to remember to stay quiet. Caleb bent down and ran his tongue up Molly’s neck, over the shell of his ear, breath hot and shaky.

“Because you need to be owned, that’s why,” he growled, maintaining a little tension in the belt. “You need someone to tell you what is good for you, to make your choices for you, to make you useful, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir, yes, yes, yes….”

“That’s right. And because you need to remember whose Kitten you are, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“All of this is mine.” Caleb dragged his fingertips down Molly’s body and circled around where his dick was resting on his stomach. He barely brushed his fingers over the length of it, but even that was too much for Molly, making him gasp and cry out, but he managed to clamp a hand over his mouth in time to avoid saying something other than what he was supposed to. Caleb smirked and kissed his jaw.

“Very good boy, remembering your instructions. Now, I have been wanting to get this pretty cock in my mouth since the first time I saw it, so I am going to take what I want, and then, if you are good, and do not break the rules, and do not cum until I give you permission, I am going to flip you over and take your cute little ass and you can get what you have been begging me for all week long.” Molly nodded.

“Yes, sir, yes,” he panted. Caleb shrugged off the rest of his shirt and shifted so he was level with Molly’s cock, one hand resting on Molly’s chest where he still had the end of the belt wrapped around his fist.

Molly choked down the whine that was threatening to burst from his throat and put a pillow under his head so he could see better. Caleb almost completely ignored him, and pressed a kiss to the tip of Molly’s dick. He sucked the precum off the head and swirled his tongue under the foreskin and Molly moaned, contemplating for a moment putting something in his mouth to stop any forbidden words from escaping. Without any more preamble, Caleb swallowed Molly down, and Molly gasped, hands twisting in the sheets; a gag was thoroughly unnecessary now, as Molly was past the point of being able to form words. Caleb pulled the belt and Molly was lifted up just slightly, enough to really watch, but that was the only acknowledgement he got from Caleb, who was, true to his word, taking what he wanted and thoroughly enjoying it. Molly was astonished how _good_ the wizard looked sucking cock. For all Caleb’s talk about how Molly was made for it, he doubted he looked this enchanting with his mouth full. The muscles in Caleb’s forearm flexed again and Molly was pulled up further, the pressure around his throat starting to slow his air, but he couldn’t stop making the noises Caleb loved so much, his little whimpers and moans and whines. He was being loud, he knew it, but if there was anyone in the room next door, they were dead to him.

_Hey, Molly!_

Molly sucked in a breath at the first syllable and his hand flew to Caleb’s head, his whole body tensing. Caleb stopped moving and loosened the tension on the belt, looking up at Molly, his eyes questioning. Molly held up a finger to his lips and waited for the message to finish. The image was almost comical, Caleb, frozen, his mouth still stretched around Molly’s dick, not daring to make a sound.

_Are you okay? You’ve been gone for a long time and we’re gonna leave but we don’t know where you are, doo do dodooo do-_

“I’m fine, Jester, met a guy in the hall, don’t wait up.”

Molly rolled his eyes and the pair waited a few seconds for the spell to fade. Caleb pulled off Molly and started laughing, a low, warm sound that Molly suddenly thought that he didn’t hear nearly often enough. Molly started to giggle too, and flopped back down on the bed with a groan.

“Godsdammit,” he mumbled. “Leave it to her…”

“Ja, it figures.” Caleb stroked Molly’s thighs and took the end of the belt in his hand again. “Would you like to keep going?”

“Fuck, yes,” Molly breathed, already putting Jester’s interruption behind him. Caleb raised his eyebrows and pulled on the belt harder.

“Yes, _sir_ ,” Molly amended, stretching out and getting comfortable. Caleb grinned and settled back between Molly’s thighs, taking Molly’s cock in one easy bob of his head, and Molly was back under again, waves of pleasure rolling over him and pulling obscene sounds from his throat. He loved the feeling of the belt around his neck, reminding him of his status, the pressure just enough to be tantalizing, just enough to make him breathe a little harder. His climax was simmering under the surface of his skin, and he kept it down as best he could, to focus on any other sensation but Caleb’s sweet, hot mouth around him, but was failing miserably. Panic started to rise in his chest that he was going to finish and wouldn’t get fucked, and that he had no way to warn Caleb without breaking the rules. Molly whined and put his hand on Caleb’s head, tapping him gently but urgently. Caleb pulled off and looked up at him, and gods, did he look delicious, hair all mussed, lips red and swollen, eyes dark with hunger.

“Are you close, _Kätzchen_?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good boy, clever boy, letting me know without breaking the rules. I think you have earned being rewarded, don’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly replied eagerly, his tail thumping on the mattress.

“Turn over.” Molly flipped onto his belly immediately, his tail swishing behind him. He wrapped his arms around the pillow and snuggled into it, a deep purr resonating through his chest. Caleb pinched Molly’s ass, making him yelp, and went to where he’d left his belongings. Molly turned his head and watched as Caleb removed the remainder of his clothing and rummaged in his coat pockets, presumably for oil. It occurred to Molly while he stared that it was a damn shame that Caleb hid under so many layers of clothing, old and ill-fitting. He was handsome; his shoulders were broad, the freckles were adorable, and Molly, whose own body was naturally almost hairless, like most tieflings, found the soft auburn hair that covered Caleb’s chest and trailed down his stomach to be exciting and masculine. When Caleb returned to the bed, Molly stretched out, liquid and pliable. He was already so hot and relaxed that he didn’t think he would need much preparation, but he adored this part and wanted Caleb to take his time with it.

“Mmmm, what a beautiful present you make, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb purred, smacking Molly lightly on the ass before climbing onto the bed behind him. Molly hummed and wiggled, his tail making wide figure eights. Caleb’s hand curled around the base of it and Molly gasped, shivering. The human didn’t quite seem to know how to handle Molly’s tail, wrestling with it a bit before gently tucking it under Molly’s arm.

“This is a very charming appendage, Kitten, but I do not want to be smacked in the face while I’m trying to open you up. Keep it there, ja?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly mumbled into the pillow, the haze of submission dragging him down into an almost trance state, relaxed and cooperative.

“Now, baby, forget about the rules for a minute - I’m going to stretch you a little, ja, and when I ask you if you are ready for more, I do not want you to say yes unless you mean it, understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

“If I ask you if you are ready for another finger, if you are not, what will you say?”

“No, sir.”

“Ja, good, baby.” Molly purred at the praise and wiggled his hips, his hole already clenching around nothing in anticipation. He hoped Caleb didn’t stop talking to him, he loved how Caleb’s accent got thicker and deeper when he was aroused, and wanted to hear more of it.

Suddenly, he felt a warm, slick finger probing between his cheeks, searching for the right spot, and he keened, spreading his legs wider. The tip of Caleb’s finger circled Molly’s entrance and then pressed in, agonizingly slowly, and Molly moaned loudly, muffling himself with the pillow.

“Oh, Kitten, you feel so tight,” Caleb murmured, cautiously pushing his finger the rest of the way in, past the first ring of muscle. “You are going to feel so lovely coming apart on my cock, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly moaned, his breath shaky.

“I cannot wait to get inside you…I can already feel how easily you are relaxing for me, your body knows what it wants, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, siiiiiir!” Molly’s voice went up in pitch as Caleb began massaging his walls, stretching him gently. His cock was dripping on the sheets, a steady pulse of precum dampening his stomach.

“Are you ready for another, _Kätzchen_?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly breathed. He gasped when a second slicked finger pushed past the tight pucker of his rim and slid beside the first.

“So good for me…you want me to take you so badly, hmm? You are so desperate for it, I’m surprised you need any preparation at all. Have you been keeping this hole ready for me?”

“Yes, sir, yes!”

“I did not tell you you could not touch yourself, and such a needy slut like you must bring himself off near every night, ja?”

Molly groaned and shuddered, his cock rubbing deliciously against the sheets, fuck, he wanted to cum, he could cum like this if Caleb just touched him right- and then the two fingers found their mark, pressing on Molly’s sweet spot, making him yelp and let out another spurt of precum.

“What, are you that unable to control yourself? Two fingers in your ass and you are ready to mess the bed?”

“Yes, sir,” Molly gasped, the humiliation burning through him, but he really was almost on the edge, and then Caleb laid off, returning to stretching him. He tutted, his tone light and teasing.

“I will have to train you to have more endurance, Kitten.”

“Yes, sir.” The phrase felt like a prayer to Molly, a talisman, an assurance of safety and protection and blessing. He wasn’t sure which god would consider getting fucked raw in a crappy inn room to be a divine blessing, but he’d worship them in a heartbeat. Caleb reached for the belt around Molly’s neck and grasped the end, wrapping it around his hand as his other continued to finger Molly open. Molly moaned and then whined when the pressure around his throat increased as Caleb pulled on the belt.

“You have hardly needed anything for me to get you ready, baby, are you always this loose?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Or only for me?”

“Yes, sir, yes, yes,” Molly groaned.

“Mmmm, that’s a good boy. I bet you have been opening your ass for me every night of the week, hmm? Riding your own fingers until you cum all over yourself?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Or maybe you have a toy, a naughty something you bought for yourself because you are such an insatiable, needy thing? Is that how you have been spending your evenings?”

“Yeeeeees,” Molly whined, adding the “sir” in almost a whisper as Caleb crooked his fingers just right to brush Molly’s prostate again.

“Would you like another?”

“Yes, sir.” Molly felt a third oiled finger slip inside him and gods, he felt full, not as full as he wanted to be, but stretched and loose and ready. His hole was clenching around Caleb’s fingers, and he was impatient but also grateful that Caleb was taking his time, making sure he was prepared.

“You feel like heaven, baby,” Caleb breathed, stroking Molly’s insides. “Are you ready for me?”

“Yes, sir, yes, yes, yes,” Molly begged, spreading his legs wider.

“Good,” Caleb purred. He took his fingers out and Molly almost sobbed, his hungry rim fluttering in protest. A sudden slap on his ass made him suck in his breath and keep quiet.

“Do not be greedy,” Caleb warned sharply. Molly tried to regulate his breathing and listened to the exciting, delicious sounds of Caleb applying more oil to himself - _getting ready to fuck him_ \- but couldn’t help but let out a cry when the head of Caleb’s cock pressed against his hole and slid inside. Caleb tensed behind him, pausing, slackening the belt a little, but Molly just kept whining and didn’t call for a stop, so after a moment the human yanked Molly’s leash again and pushed fully into his ass. Molly’s gasping sobs were loud and obscene, he was finally, finally, actually full, _owned, owned, owned._ It felt like Caleb waited for a hundred years to start moving, but when he did, Molly was gone, crying out and shaking, blessed nothing in his head but mind-blowing pleasure.

“Ohhhhhhh, _Molly_ ,” Caleb groaned when he bottomed out, one hand holding Molly’s hip in a bruising grasp, the other gripping the belt and pulling Molly up by the throat. After a few cautious thrusts, panting and moaning, Caleb started fucking Molly hard, driving the tiefling’s hips into the mattress, and Molly was speechless, nothing in his body functioning but his twitching, desperate cock and his ass filled with Caleb.

As Molly was starting to climb towards his orgasm again, Caleb reached around to Molly’s throat and gripped it tight, slowly.starting to restrict Molly’s air, and Molly’s peak was suddenly approaching far quicker than before, each thrust magnified as the edges of his vision started to blur, he was practically half up off the bed, his back brushing Caleb’s chest, and Caleb moaned and captured Molly’s ear with his lips, gasping,

“Cum for me, _mein Kätzchen_ -“

-and Molly exploded, cumming so hard his release hit the headboard. He was lightheaded, dizzy, the pleasure rolling through him in his quivering core, and it seemed to go on forever. His ass was spasming around Caleb’s cock, and it only took another half a minute before Caleb’s hips were faltering, his breath high and desperate. Caleb groaned and buried his teeth in Molly’s neck as he slammed into Molly’s ass and climaxed. Molly could feel the hot, wet rush shooting deep inside him and he moaned, the steady beat of his heart echoing _owned, owned, owned_ in his hazy, molasses slow brain.

The air was still as they came down from their orgasms, Caleb’s grip on Molly’s throat immediately turned soothing and gentle, his other hand looped around Molly’s hips in a tender hold. Molly was on the float, drifting through a fog of happiness and endorphins, and the high kept coming as Caleb gently pulled out, guiding Molly slowly onto his back on a clean part of the bed and removing the belt from around his neck.

“You did so good, so good,” he murmured, pressing soft kisses to Molly’s head. “You were amazing, Mollymauk, so wonderful…” Molly didn’t respond, just purred contentedly, eyelids too heavy to keep open.

“I am getting you some water, is it alright if I leave for just a moment, _Schatz_?” Molly nodded and grunted in assent. He hardly noticed Caleb leave, it felt like just a second, and then he was back with a glass of cool water and fresh cloths. As Molly drank, he started to come back to his body, energy returned to him, and he blinked his eyes open blearily. Caleb was half sitting up next to him, stroking over his chest. The tenderness in his face was warm enough for Molly to curl up under and he hoped his expression conveyed his enjoyment just as well.

“May I clean you up?” Molly nodded again. Caleb had the basin on the nightstand and warmed it, dipping a cloth and gently wiping Molly up. Vaguely, Molly thought he ought to be embarrassed that Caleb was cleaning him so thoroughly, but his limbs felt like they weighed a hundred pounds each and forming the words to object felt like far too much work. The human didn’t seem to mind it, so Molly let it go.

By the time he was free of the accumulated fluids of the evening, except of course for the bit of Caleb that he still held inside him, Molly was back to himself again, still tired, thoroughly fucked out, but coming up out of the submissive fog that he’d been in. Caleb placed the soiled cloths away and laid back down, facing Molly, and holding his arms out for Molly to come closer. Molly smiled, a little shy about this part still, but hell, he’d let Caleb take care of him after if it meant they could keep having sex that fucking hot. He curled against Caleb’s side and let Caleb pull him the rest of the way in to cuddle against his chest. Caleb stroked Molly’s back and Molly felt content enough to fall asleep right here, Caleb’s breath tickling his scalp, his hands massaging Molly’s muscles and simply touching him gently, affectionately.

“How was that, Mollymauk?”

“Fantastic,” Molly mumbled. “For you?” Caleb scoffed.

“I hardly need to tell you how much I enjoyed it, ja?”

“I like to hear it anyway.”

“Then yes, it was spectacular. I want to tell you, though, and I know you know this, but still, you know that I did not mean a word of that, ja?” Molly pulled back and feigned offense.

“When you told me I was good and how pretty I am? You were lying?” Molly gasped. “For shame, Mister Caleb.” Caleb chuckled and kissed Molly’s forehead.

“Nein. That was all true. I mean the…cruel…things that I said. All play, ja? I could never say anything so degrading about you in honesty.”

“No need to worry, darling, I obviously enjoyed it.”

“It is not about worrying, Mollymauk, it…I just need to tell you that. I need to know that _you_ know none of it is true. I treated you harshly, like I owned you, and I simply need to say it, that is all. I do not think anything like that about you. I respect you very much.” The two were silent for a long few moments, enjoying the peaceful intimacy.

“Molly?”

“Yes, dear?”

“We should talk about what happened.” Molly immediately knew what Caleb was referencing and felt a hot blush of shame rise in his face. He pulled away a little and Caleb didn’t stop him, just propped up on one elbow, the other hand still resting on Molly’s side.

“Oh, yeah. That. I mean, really, darling, don’t worry about it, it was just a silly little thing. I probably shouldn’t even have said anything, I don’t know…” Caleb’s face was implacable as always.

“I am very glad that you called for a pause, Molly,” Caleb said, his voice hardly above a whisper. “If you said it, it is because you needed it. I would always rather you err on the side of saying it than pushing yourself too far. I do not mean to bring up…I do not mean to phrase it this way, but I hope you understand that if I do not trust you will use your words when you need them, then I cannot do this with you.”

“No, no, I do understand that,” Molly reassured quickly. “It’s not…I don’t know, I know it’s okay to use my safewords if I need them. I just haven’t always been with others who felt that way.” Caleb nodded and moved to stroke Molly’s arm, his touch grounding.

“I am glad that you trust me that you can use them with me and I will not be disappointed in you. Not ever. I would like to know, though, and you truly need not tell me any reason why, but I would like to know what I did that caused that…reaction in you, so I will not do it again.” Molly bit his bottom lip.

“Um…well, I’m sorry I didn’t bring it up before, when we were having the whole conversation about boundaries, I didn’t know-“

“You do not need to apologize,” Caleb said firmly. “Things sometimes creep up on us, ja? Sorry to interrupt, just - please do not apologize.” Molly nodded.

“Noted. Um. So, it was just the thing you said about um…being a whore. And whores getting paid. I just…it’s not a big deal or anything. I’ve just you know, had to get by sometimes, and done some things that left me with some unpleasant memories and I’d just rather not go there.”

Molly searched Caleb’s face for a reaction, disgust, loss of respect, or worst of all, pity, but found him unreadable. At least his expression didn’t change; he didn’t seem shocked or upset by the revelation. He merely nodded.

“I will remember not to say such things. I am sorry that something I did caused you to have a reaction like that.” Molly opened his mouth to object, say that he had nothing to apologize for, but Caleb held a hand up to stop him. “I know I did not know, but I can still be sorry that it happened. Overall, how are you feeling?”

“Very satisfied,” Molly purred, stretching out. “I have certainly learned my lesson.” Caleb raised an eyebrow.

“Which is?”

“That if I’m an outrageous flirt for long enough, you’ll fuck me so well I can’t walk straight.” Caleb sighed and wiped a hand over his face with a grin.

“Ja, I suppose that is exactly what you learned here.” Molly laughed and rolled over to begin collecting his clothes. He didn’t really want to leave just yet, but it was getting quite late, and he always lived by the motto of absence makes the heart grow fonder. Be the first to leave and they’ll miss you; stay too long and they’ll think you’re desperate. Though he wasn’t sure how to apply the motto when you lived with the other person. Either way, he started to dress and was almost sad to feel Caleb’s weight leave the bed, as he got up to do the same.

“Um, how should we deal with, you know…going home?” Caleb thought for a second.

“We can walk most of the way and I can turn into something small and you can carry me in in your pocket?”

“I don’t remember discussing that when we were figuring out which kinks we wanted to try,” Molly quipped, earning a hearty laugh from Caleb. “Yeah, that works. Is that how you got in here? I mean, I saw you leave.”

“Ja, when I paid for the room I asked the innkeeper to open the window for me before I came back. She was a little confused but a tip helped avoid any questions. I went out back, became a bird and flew on up. Easy as anything.”

“Four years at the Empire’s most prestigious magic academy and you’re using it so you can fuck more discreetly.” Molly shook his head, bemused. Caleb chuckled. Secretly, he was a little flattered that Caleb had used his precious, hard-won magic to get Molly to bed faster, but he wasn’t about to inflate the wizard’s ego any more than he already had.

“Let’s get headed home, then?”

“Ja, I think that is a good idea.” The pair left the inn, with Caleb returning the key (to a somewhat surprised innkeeper) on the way out, and enjoyed the cool night air on the walk home. They were mostly quiet, exchanging a few quiet observations here and there, and when they reached the street where the Xhorhaus stood, Caleb held out his arm for Molly to stop.

“Perhaps here is a good place.” The two ducked into an alley and Caleb dug around for his components pouch. Before he spoke the incantations for the spell, he paused and looked over at Molly.

“I had a very nice time tonight,” he murmured, and Molly’s tiefling eyes could see a hint of a blush come into the human’s cheeks.

“Likewise, darling.” Caleb hesitated for a moment, but put his hand under Molly’s chin and pulled him in for a short, sweet kiss. Molly’s pulse thrummed in his veins, his breath quickening, and then just as soon as it happened it was over.

“Since I, ah, will not be able to bid you goodnight when we return home. Just, um, drop me in the library if you can?” With that, Caleb finished the spell and a tiny bird appeared where he was standing, a cute little thing with muted orange and brown feathers. Molly scooped him up and put him in his coat pocket. The return home was easy - turns out neither of them needed to worry, since everyone was asleep already except for Nott, who was apparently getting a midnight snack from the kitchen. When he came through the front door, she walked by with a chicken drumstick in one hand and a wedge of cheese in the other, waved with the drumstick, and kept going. Molly waited until she was out of sight, then silently opened the door to the library and pulled the sparrow out of his pocket. Giving bird-Caleb a pet on the head with one finger, Molly chuckled to himself at the bird’s pissed expression and placed the bird on the floor inside, leaving the door ajar behind him.

Retreating to his own bed, a part of him wanted to go back to the library, not to be climbing into his cold sheets, but he pushed it down and curled up, happy and satisfied, and ready for sleep.

The small part of his brain that kept replaying the feeling of Caleb’s hands on him didn’t stop as he drifted off into unconsciousness.


	3. if I see sunlight hit you, I am sure that we'll both decompose

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just going to put it out there that I don't know anything about tarot, so all interpretations / spreads are literally just what I found online. BUT, I didn't fudge the cards, these genuinely are what I pulled for all the readings. There were 2 or 3 cards across all 3 readings that I redrew because I couldn't figure them out, but the re-draws were still picked at random. Saying this now because it probably reads like I manipulated them to be ~foreshadowing~ but I did not! Okay, enjoy!

Molly’s pulse was pounding in his ears, every step sending shockwaves through his chest. He was sure he looked guilty, like anyone who looked hard enough would see evidence of his purchases on his face. He especially wanted to avoid any of the Nein, certain that they would be able to detect his nervousness.

Molly silently thanked the Moonweaver that he hadn’t run into anyone on his dash up to his room. His coin purse, noticeably lighter, went on the nightstand, and he hurriedly emptied his satchel of goodies onto the bed.

_“Oh yes, very fine quality, very soft to the touch, as you can see,” the shopkeeper said, holding out the bundle. Molly’s mouth went dry as he ran his fingers over the bamboo rope, shiny and petal soft._

_“I have to warn you, it isn’t cheap,” the drow woman said. “The bamboo has to come from all the way in the south, and not just anyone knows how to work it into fine rope like this. We do have some hemp if that’s more in line with your budget.”_

_“I’ll take it,” Molly said, not waiting to hear the price and getting the uneasy feeling he’d regret it. She smiled._

_“Alright then. How many bundles? What colors?”_

_“Three should do. I don’t care much about the colors.”_

_The shopkeeper rummaged through a basket of rope bundles and pulled out a gorgeous royal purple, ocean blue, and pastel blue._

_“I think these would look lovely with your complexion.” Molly just nodded, his imagination still running wild with all the ways he might get to use it._

Was he being crazy? Was this too much?

No, he decided, he was merely facilitating what he and Caleb had already agreed to. Molly evaluated his selection, trying to decide what he wanted to use first. It didn’t take long for him to settle on the rope, and he tucked it into his satchel, scooping the rest into his bedside table with his other naughty things, to be brought out another time.

Peeking around the corner, Molly slunk down hall, down the stairs and to the library door. If Caleb was in there, he’d just come back later. No big deal. He could come up with a bullshit reason he’d come to the library. The sound of footsteps down the stairs made the choice for him, as it would be even weirder if he was just hesitating outside the library door, and he slipped inside. The library was dark - maybe Caleb was out. Quiet as a mouse, Molly crept to Caleb’s bedroom door and knocked, tapping so softly he could hardly hear it himself. When nobody answered, he let himself in.

_What was he doing? Is this even okay?_

Molly hoped he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries but, well, he was already in here. He stepped over to the nightstand, opened the top drawer, and laid the bundles of rope inside. He was sure Caleb would get the hint, maybe even be pleased with Molly’s foresight. A slight shiver went down Molly’s back at the thought of how it felt to be under that approving gaze.

He took a book from the library just for good measure and went to the living room to read in case he’d aroused any suspicion. Hell, maybe he’d even learn something. It occurred to Molly as he was forcing casualness into his step on his way up the stairs that Caleb’s glances and comments had taken on a new valence. They hadn’t changed in content, or even much in frequency, but they weighed more to him now. He knew it was just the temporary infatuation of a new affair, but he relished it nonetheless. Molly loved the thrill of knowing there was something special and secret just between the two of them, seeing how much genuine flirting he could pass off as his usual indiscriminately teasing banter and catching the gleam in Caleb’s eye that told Molly he knew it.

Molly looked down at the book in his lap. _Comparative Evaluations of Mineral Component Quality Assessed Across Wildemount._

Ah, fuck this.

Molly knew he was being paranoid. Nobody was watching him and following his movements.

It was only another hour or so before Molly heard the door to the Xhorhaus open, and the intonations of a soft, Zemnian accented voice started growing louder from the direction of the stairwell. Molly’s pulse quickened, hoping Caleb would discover the gifts, and his heart jumped when a familiar shock of red hair darted past the open door, a hand lifted briefly in greeting.

Molly fidgeted, waiting for what felt like hours for Caleb to finish whatever on Exandria was _taking_ him so godsdamned long in the washroom and go back to his bedroom where Molly’s purchases were waiting. He noted the sound of footsteps, surmised Caleb must be back in in the library by now, and surely he’d have gone to his room just to drop off his things and-

Molly shook his head, silently scolding himself. He was being ridiculous. It was silly to think that Caleb would go straight to his bedside table and inspect a drawer that he had no reason to think had anything special in it. Still, Molly half hoped he’d hear that seductive voice in his head any moment. He waited, he waited, he waited.

Four more days passed without Molly hearing anything about the ropes, and whether that was because Caleb hadn’t seen them yet, or had but simply hadn’t brought them up, he couldn’t be sure. A million times Molly thought about going back in there and placing the bundles on the bed, right in the middle where he couldn’t miss them, but always talked himself down. The risk that Fjord or whoever was on task for the washing that week would walk in, or that someone might come looking for Caleb and see it, was just too much, and it wasn’t fair to Caleb, or true to their promises of discretion, for Molly to take that kind of chance.

It didn’t matter that it would be basically impossible for any of the Nein to connect _him_ to Caleb that way, what mattered was that anyone might learn that Caleb was into “that sort of thing”. Molly knew that sharing what turned you on was a tremendous act of vulnerability to gift to someone, and he took it very seriously that Caleb had trusted Molly enough to give it to him. Molly might be shameless about some of his more pedestrian kinks, but even he had things that he’d told Caleb but would never want anyone else to know. The false bottom of his unfiltered demeanor hid a deep trove of secrets that he kept well concealed by pretending to bare all there was to see.

The morning of the sixth day since Molly bought his new playthings - not that he was keeping count - he finally received some acknowledgment of his gift.

_Kätzchen, if you are not busy, may I see you in my room? Bring those loose black pants that you do not wear often enough._

Molly shuddered at the imagined sensation of Caleb’s breath on his ear. He was surprised to hear that pet name this early in the morning, though he certainly didn’t object to starting his day off with a tumble. The request about the pants was a little confusing - Molly had a pair of flowy, soft black pants that cinched around the ankle, and he wore them from time to time around the house, but they weren’t especially flattering. He thought of them as his lazy pants, not fit to be seen by anyone he didn’t live with, and was a bit bewildered that Caleb seemed to like them. His ass and legs were some of his best features, and these pants drowned them entirely.

Still, far be it from him to deny a simple request, especially one from a lover who was fucking him better than any other he in recent memory. He removed his leggings, slipped on the pants, and padded downstairs, trying his hardest to be casual and arouse no suspicion. Fortunately, he was able to slink into the library without being noticed, and kept himself from running to the softly illuminated doorway on the other end.

“You called?” Molly purred, peeking his head inside. Caleb was standing at his desk, sorting through some papers, and looked up and smiled when Molly entered. Molly’s chest warmed at that pretty little smile.

“Ja, I did. Close the door, please.”

“To what do I owe the wake up bell?” He teased, shutting and locking the bedroom door behind him. Caleb paused on his way over to the bedside table.

“I did not wake you, did I?” He sounded apologetic; it was very cute.

“No, darling, just a turn of phrase.” Caleb nodded and stepped over to the table, opening the top drawer. Molly’s pulse started to accelerate, and he fidgeted as Caleb drew the bundles out.

“You found my presents, then?”

“Ah, ja, I did.” Caleb looked up and smiled again, a different, more lustful shine to his expression. “I found them the day you put them here. But I thought I would let you wait a little. Anticipation makes everything sweeter, ja?”

“Might argue with that, love, but I generally don’t get my way in disagreements about such things with you.” Caleb chuckled softly.

“No, you do not.”

“So are we finally getting to break them in?”

“In a sense.” Molly raised an eyebrow.

“Is the request for my lazy pants going to make sense when you explain it to me?” Caleb reached out one hand and Molly, grinning, took it, letting Caleb pull him in for a warm kiss.

“I like these pants on you,” he murmured, letting his tongue play over Molly’s lips. Molly kissed him again, his fingers starting to wander down to Caleb’s shirt buttons, but a hand over his stopped him.

“Nein, if we do more of this, I will be tempted to throw away my idea.” Molly smiled and let his tail drift up to Caleb’s hips, teasing around his waistband.

“Tell me your idea and I’ll decide if I want to keep tempting you.” Caleb smirked and grabbed a handful of Molly’s ass, making him sigh.

“You know this does not work like that.”

“Worth a try.” Caleb picked up one of the bundles and held it between them.

“I want to put these on you, baby, but then I want you to put your clothes back on and wear them until tonight. How does that sound?”

“Oh, _fuck_.”

“Is that a yes?” Caleb asked.

“Fuck, yes _please_.”

“Take off your shirt and pants and stand for me.”

Molly hurried to oblige, his cock already stirring with interest. Caleb looked over the three bundles of rope and picked up the two blue ones.

“You look lovely in blue, _Kätzchen_. Just relax and tell me if anything feels too tight.”

The minute the rope wound around the crease of his hip, Molly started to loosen up. He watched, entranced, as Caleb worked, stroking up and down Molly’s legs, pressing soft kisses to bare lavender skin, and tying off practiced knots, until, after almost an hour, both his legs were decorated in criss-crossing blue rope, forming a diamond pattern like lace stockings over his skin. They were pleasantly snug, the lightest pressure reminding him they were there, and the ends looped over his shoulders and attached at the back so they wouldn’t fall down. It occurred to Molly, as he watched Caleb tie him up, that something like this might be blurring the lines a bit, taking the power play out of the bedroom. He wanted it, he really wanted it, but there was a small part of him that was anxious about whether agreeing to this was agreeing to something other than what he had originally wanted. Molly pushed it down. This was extended foreplay, that was all. Nothing to overthink.

When he finally finished, Caleb stepped back and looked over Molly, assessing.

“Take a few steps for me.” Molly obeyed, the way the rope tugged and shifted when he moved so, so delicious.

“Does anything feel too tight? You can move without trouble?” Caleb asked, kneeling to double check the knots.

“No, it feels amazing,” Molly sighed. Caleb beamed up at him and ran his hands over Molly’s rope-clad legs. He laid a few kisses over Molly’s thighs and nuzzled against his embarrassingly obvious erection.

“Mmmm…I cannot wait to fuck you in this later.” Molly whined, loud as he dared, his tail lashing behind him. “Not yet. Come back tonight. You are forbidden from touching before then.” Caleb stood and pulled Molly in for a positively indecent kiss.

“Fine,” Molly sighed. “I guess I can be _patient._ ”

“You will be whether you think you can or not. Now, if it becomes too uncomfortable, or you change your mind about it, just come see me and I can take it off or fix it for you, ja?” Molly nodded. “Put your clothes back on.”

At breakfast, Molly positively could not sit still. He kept fidgeting; each time he thought he’d found the perfect comfortable sitting position, he couldn’t sit in it for more than a few minutes before he wanted to shift again. Some of it was excitement and arousal, but mostly, it was the foreign sensation of rope between his skin and his clothes that kept triggering his instinct to move around until everything felt “normal”. Caleb’s gaze flickered to him more than a few times, and Molly thought he saw the barest hint of a smirk teasing at the edges of Caleb’s mouth. Bastard.

“Want to go shopping with me today, Molly?” Jester asked, from behind a mouthful of apple biscuit.

“What’s that?”

“Shopping. I need more art supplies! Want to come?”

Molly thought for a second. He did need some more inks for his tarot deck. He hesitated, a little nervous at the idea of going out in public like…this. But there was another quiet voice inside him that reminded him how exciting it would be. Walking around, the ropes tight against his skin, just reminding him of their presence…reminding him who put them there, and why, and that he belonged to someone. If he had been inclined to try to find an afternoon hook up, theoretically - though even Molly wasn’t usually that desperate - he wouldn’t be able to go through with it. As soon as he took his clothes off, the other person would know: his body didn’t belong to him. That thought was with Molly always, a constant drumbeat in the back of his head, but the soft layer of rope that embraced him reassured him that the owner of his body wasn’t a ghost nipping at his heels, but a strong, capable person who would keep him safe, someone Molly had given _permission_ to stake a claim.

“Molly?”

Jester, Nott and Yasha were all staring at him.

“Sorry, darling, just didn’t sleep so well last night. Bit distracted. Yes, I’d love to come shopping with you.”

Caleb was having difficulty keeping the smile off his face and fixed his gaze firmly on his coffee.

~~~

Following his excursion with Jester, Molly sat with her in her room as they worked on their art projects. He was glad to have some company, not least to distract him from the low grade ache that had been between his legs all day.

“You’ve been working on those cards a long time,” Jester said, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between them.

“Yeah, when the mood strikes I work on them, so sometimes I leave them for a while. And there’s a lot of cards.”

“Do you know what they all mean?”

“I know what they’re all _supposed_ to mean.” Jester sighed.

“I wish it was that easy. Like just pull some cards and it’ll tell you what to do.” Molly looked up.

“Something troubling you?” Jester shrugged.

“I don’t know, things with Fjord are kind of funny. Like, remember the other night when we were at the bar, and we were playing truth or dare?” Gods, did Molly ever remember…. “I kissed him, like, not even on the mouth, and he’s just been super weird and stiff with me. I thought things were going really well.”

“Ah, he’s a bit of a turtle, love. Sticks his head back in his shell when things start to heat up.”

“I know, I just…ugh. It’s so frustrating. I wish it was as easy as pulling some cards.”

“Are you asking me to do a reading for you?”

“I mean, if you don’t _mind_ ….”

“You only have to ask, dear. Come on, sit with me.” Molly carefully moved the cards in his half-finished deck and scooped up the purchased deck he used for reference. Jester sat cross legged on the bed across from him, beaming. Molly handed her the cards.

“Now, just shuffle them. Really focus on what questions you want answers to.” Jester took the deck and squeezed her eyes shut, clearly thinking hard as she shuffled the cards. She handed them back to Molly, who fanned them out in his hands.

“You’re going to pick six cards, alright? Lay them out in a little pyramid, one at the top, then two, then three. Make sense?” Jester nodded. “Think really hard about love. What you want in a relationship, what might be holding you back. Focus on those things and then the cards can tell you more about them.” Jester took a few moments choosing her cards, laying them out carefully in the pattern Molly explained. With a flourish, he collapsed the fan back into a deck and put them away.

“Alright then. Let’s see the first one… Alright. Six of wands. This one is for what you _want_ out of love. It usually means success, but in sort of a material sense.” Jester’s brow furrowed. “Not necessarily like, you’re looking for a rich man. More like, knowing you at least, maybe it means you think of love as being…security?”

Molly flipped over the next card.

“And that does make sense with this one, the ten of cups, in the position that indicates what you’ve learned from love. The ten of cups is the bliss of accomplishment, and triumph. That it’s the reward of those who earn it.” Jester was nodding vigorously now.

“That _totally_ makes sense, Molly.”

“Well let’s look at the next one…what holds you back from love.” Molly turned this card, revealing the Hanged Man. Jester gasped.

“What is that one? Is that _dying?!”_

“No, no,” Molly reassured her. “It’s more like sacrifice. It could be that you need to sacrifice, or that someone else needs to. Or it could be that you sacrifice too much, you know? That’s what holds you back, always taking care of others before yourself.”

“Okay…I don’t know about that one. What’s next?”

“This one tells you about the readiness of your heart. Ah, Justice. This suggests that you have to make a judgment, perhaps an unpleasant one, but an objective one. Maybe it’s saying your heart is ready, but…confused? I don’t know.”

Molly flipped the fifth card. The Devil.

“This is for the readiness of your mind. It could go either way. Might be telling you you’re letting lust cloud your judgment - or that you should feel free to live a little.” Molly winked, making Jester giggle. He grinned.

“Ready for the last one?”

“Yes!”

“The Empress. The final card represents the readiness of your spirit for love. The Empress is usually considered the gentle benefactor, a cooling, peaceful influence. Forgive me for saying, darling, but that obviously isn’t you, so perhaps it means that what your _spirit_ needs is someone who has those qualities.” Jester looked over the cards, thinking hard.

“Wow, thanks Molly, that was cool! I have a lot to think about probably. Let me do you!!” Molly flushed.

“Oh, no, you don’t need to-“

“I want to learn how! Let me do one for you! Can you teach me to do this one, with the six?” Her face was so open and earnest. Molly could understand why Fjord and Beau were so incapable of saying no to her.

“Alright, you wore me down, darling.”

“Yessss! Okay, so first, you have to shuffle the cards, right?” Molly nodded and put the cards back in a pile, shuffling them lazily. “And think reeeeeeally hard about what you want in love!”

“You know, I’m really not looking for anything right now, Jes,” Molly reminded her, opening one eye.

“Doesn’t matter! Probably!” Molly couldn’t help but laugh at that. She didn’t even know how to read tarot yet, but she sounded so sure. Smiling, but not really focusing the way he’d told Jester to do, he laid out the six cards in the cross formation like he’d showed her.

“Alright, Madam Lavorre, I’m ready for my reading.”

“Middle one first right?” Molly nodded. Jester flipped the card, revealing a robed man standing behind a table. The Magician.

“Okay, so this is like what you want in love, right? So maybe…Molly, you want magic. Like not magic like magic magic but like, you know, maybe like excitement! Or maybe magic magic. Does this mean you want someone who can do magic?” Molly tore his eyes away from the card. The ropes were pressing on him, almost impossible to ignore.

“Oh, uh, no, not necessarily. It’s more metaphorical.”

“Okay, cool, so you want magic! Next one!” Jester turned the second card: The Moon.

“What’s this one?”

“The Moon represents longing, hoping for fulfillment, uncontrollable yearning - those sorts of things.”

“Hmm, okay, so if that’s what you learned from love before, maybe like, you had a bad experience?” Molly almost laughed. Just one?

“Sure, that works. What’s next?” Jester turned over the card and almost shouted.

“Oh my GOSH, Molly, that’s the same one that I got!” Sure enough, the Hanged Man looked back at him. “That is SO crazy, oh my gosh, maybe that means we BOTH have to make sacrifices! Or we both like gave something up and that’s why we’re single!”

“That one will be some food for thought, Jes. You’re doing great.”

“Okay, let’s see if your _heart_ is ready for _love_ , Molly! Hmm… Six of swords? What’s this one?” Molly felt a little pang inside his chest, memories of another time pulling at the back of his brain.

“Ah, six of swords is loss. Taking a risk and it doesn’t pay off.” Jester gasped.

“Oh my gosh, Molly, that’s _so_ sad. Your heart isn’t ready because you got _hurt_ before. Right?” Molly shrugged, purposefully vague.

“Perhaps.”

“Maybe this one is happier. Readiness of your mind…. Eight of wands? I don’t know what these ones mean! I can like make up stuff for the other ones!” Jester huffed. Molly chuckled.

“Don’t worry, darling, it just takes some practice. Eight of wands represents obstacles. It usually means you have to do some hard work to overcome some obstacles, and it’ll cost you.” Jester nodded sagely.

“So you have to overcome some obstacles, like, in your mind, to get yourself ready for love. Okay. Are you ready for the last one?”

“Sure thing.”

“Seven of cups!” Jester crowed triumphantly. “…What’s that?”

“Temptation.” Molly wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making Jester giggle.

“Ooooh, okay, that’s a good one! So your spirit is like, totally ready to bone.” Molly laughed.

“I don’t think boning is exactly what the spread is supposed to be for, but I guess that’s part of it. You did great, love. Just, if you’re giving a reading to someone in the future, and you haven’t memorized all the meanings of the suit cards-“ Molly leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “-you can just bullshit it.”

“Molly!” Jester cried. “Do you bullshit it?!” Molly shrugged.

“Sometimes. If you believe these things work, then they’ll get the message they’re supposed to from what you say.”

“This is super fun. I’m totally gonna do everyone in the group. Can I borrow your cards?” Molly handed them off to her.

“Just don’t lose any and bring ‘em back when you’re done?”

“Thanks Molly!” Jester leaned in and gave him a peck on the cheek, scampering off, presumably to go bother other members of the Nein until they let her give a reading. He was half expecting to get a message or a call up the stairs in ten minutes when she needed help interpreting the suit cards. As he collected his art supplies and homemade deck, Molly lifted his leg and found one of the cards from his reading stuck under his leg. The Magician stared up at him from Jester’s ocean green bedspread. Molly’s hand hovered over it for a second, but he rolled his eyes and scoffed at himself, slipping the card into his pocket. No sense in starting to put stock in these things now.

~~~

Dinner couldn’t come soon enough for Molly’s liking. The evening was unusually raucous, the whole group chattering loudly, several conversations taking place at once. Molly was too distracted to take in any of them. Not only was the arousal that had been simmering under his skin all day grown to a pitch that couldn’t be ignored, the ropes were starting to chafe uncomfortably against his skin in places - but he didn’t dare go to ask Caleb to take them off. Not because he believed the human might be angry, or disappointed, but because, for once, Molly _wanted_ to be good, to show that he could do what was asked of him even when it was a little itchy. He caught Caleb’s eye at the table and almost melted under the hungry gaze roving over his body.

“Oh, here’s your cards, Molly!” Jester passed them back. “Molly’s teaching me how to do tarot readings!”

“Really?” Nott asked. “That’s cool.”

“He’s way better at it,” Jester said. “I just make it up.”

“Isn’t that what all of it is?” Fjord snorted. Molly shrugged.

“Depends on what you believe, I guess. It’s a bit of both, if you ask me. I don’t really think the gods send us messages through cards, but I think maybe it can help you sort through some stuff. You’ll hear what you need to hear. Point you in the right direction. I don’t know.”

He put the cards back in his pocket. The rest of the dinner was so enjoyable, jokes and stories so entertaining that Molly almost forgot about what he was expecting afterward. Almost. A few times, he spotted Caleb looking at him when he didn’t think anyone else was paying attention, even once daring a wink when the rest of the table was looking away, engrossed in one of Beau’s stories. Every second of being under that gaze sent fire radiating through Molly’s veins, arousal pooling in his stomach and making him squirm.

As soon as Caduceus and Yasha started clearing the table, Caleb made eye contact with Molly; his eyes flickered to the library door and Molly had to bite his lower lip to stop a smile.

He let Caleb go ahead of him, helping to clear some of the dishes to let a bit of time pass before following Caleb into the library. His foot tapped impatiently as he washed dishes, fighting with himself not to rush through it. When he finally finished and a suitable amount of time had passed, his legs carried him out of the kitchen and through the library door, practically of their own volition. He knocked on the door of Caleb’s bedroom and found that the wizard was waiting for him, opening the door almost immediately on the first knock and pulling Molly inside.

Before Molly could even get his bearings, Caleb was pushing the door shut and kissing him, his mouth hot on Molly’s, his tongue slipping between Molly’s lips. Molly groaned, leaning into the press of Caleb’s lips on his, his breath already uneven and his skin feverish under Caleb’s wandering hands.

When they finally broke apart, Caleb didn’t slow, pushing Molly up against the door, warm, wet kisses trailing over Molly’s jaw and neck. Molly let his eyes close and the heat pulse through him, his pants already uncomfortable, the rope that Caleb had tied on him earlier capturing more of his attention now that it was between his skin and Caleb’s calloused fingers.

“Oh, _baby_ ,” Molly moaned as Caleb’s hands found their way under his shirt, rough thumbs circling his nipples. He felt the smirk against his collarbone rather than saw it and felt his face flush with a little embarrassment. That pet name sure had slipped out.

“You have been very distracting to me today, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb murmured, his voice hot and low. Molly made a soft noise at the back of his throat, shuddering with arousal at the sound of his pet name in Caleb’s stupidly sexy accent, already thickened with desire.

“Distracting?” Molly repeated, furrowing his brow. “I haven’t even bothered you all day!” Caleb chuckled, unbuttoning Molly’s shirt and sliding it down off his shoulders.

“Ja, you are right, you were a very good boy for me today, but I could not stop thinking about you…. How fucking good you looked all decorated for me this morning.” Caleb kissed over Molly’s chest, pressing his back firmly into the door.

“Just watching you sitting at breakfast, knowing you were all wrapped up like a present under your clothes, gods, it drove me wild,” Caleb said, breathless, through kisses to Molly’s scarred torso. He dropped to his knees and teased two fingers under the waistband of Molly’s pants, slipping them under the ropes that crossed over his hips.

“I could hardly focus on my work all day because I was so hard.” He nipped at Molly’s soft skin, his breath ghosting over Molly’s hip. Molly’s knees were weak, and he wished he had something, anything, to ground himself. Those gorgeous blue eyes stared up into him, stopping Molly’s heart. With one trembling hand, Molly ran his fingers through Caleb’s soft red hair, and he couldn’t help but smile at the way Caleb’s eyes closed and he leaned back into the contact. Caleb opened his eyes again a moment later and pressed a teasing kiss to the bulge in Molly’s trousers.

“All mine, ja?”

“Yes, all yours,” Molly whispered, his legs shaking. Caleb grinned and yanked Molly’s pants down around his ankles, revealing the intricate pattern of knots and rope winding around his legs - and over his underclothes. Both men seemed to realize this at the same time, but Caleb was undeterred, summoning his mage hand and sending it to rummage around in the nightstand while he continued to tease Molly, nipping and sucking at sensitive skin, running his fingers under the ropes. Molly was thoroughly distracted by this, his head hitting the door with an audible *thunk*, but his eyes snapped open again when he felt cold metal slide against his skin.

Caleb, businesslike, slipped the scissors under the seams of Molly’s underclothes. Molly’s jaw fell open as Caleb cut the seams apart, and he sucked in a breath as the fabric fell away, letting his needy cock free into the cool air.

“I’ll buy you more,” Caleb grumbled, placing the scissors back in the palm of his mage hand and waving it off to replace them in the nightstand. His hands went to Molly’s hips and his tongue darted out to lick up the underside of Molly’s flushed cock. Molly groaned, the contact so sudden, so much, and his hips jerked weakly forward.

“Please, please,” he whined, but Caleb pushed him back into the door more firmly.

“You are not in control here,” he reminded Molly sharply. Molly whimpered and cast around for somewhere to put his hands; Caleb took one of Molly’s hands in his own and guided it to his head as he pressed wet, open mouthed kisses to the length of Molly’s cock. Molly tangled the fingers of both hands in Caleb’s hair, trying not to tug on it, but when Caleb opened his mouth and swallowed Molly down, he gasped and his fingers tightened their grip. He worried, for a split second, that he’d hurt Caleb or done something wrong, but Caleb groaned and took Molly deeper. Molly couldn’t even hear the sounds he was making over the rush of blood in his ears, and his eyes rolled back in his head when he felt the tip of his dick hit the back of Caleb’s throat, pausing for a second before sliding down into the tight, smooth muscle beneath. His legs were shaking as Caleb sucked him off, and Caleb’s bruising grip on his hips, keeping him pressed against the door, was the only thing keeping him upright.

Suddenly, Caleb moved his hands up to Molly’s stomach, running them over his flat, muscled torso, and Molly struggled to keep his hips still, when they wanted to thrust into Caleb’s gorgeous, addicting mouth. Molly almost cried out when Caleb pulled off him, at first in objection, but the sound in his throat turned to a keen when Caleb looked up at him and growled,

“Fuck me.”

He sucked Molly down again, and this time Molly couldn’t help it, his hips bucking in a rhythm dictated by his desperate need, his brain completely scrambled except for the flood of pleasure coursing through him. Caleb took him beautifully, his throat open and hot, moaning in his own obvious pleasure as Molly fucked his mouth.

The crest of his orgasm was quickly approaching and Molly managed to choke out,

“Cay, I’m - I’m not gonna last-“

But Caleb pulled back again just long enough to say,

“Do it.”

-and took Molly in again, his hands reaching up to tug at Molly’s nipple piercings. Molly bit his lip and tried to think of something, anything, to stave off his climax, tried picturing each of his tarot cards in order, but it barely slowed the mind-numbing tsunami of bliss that was barreling towards him. Caleb twisted Molly’s nipples just right and Molly thrust into that delightful hot, wet passage, and that was it, he was gone, crying out and emptying himself into Caleb’s willing throat.

“Oh my gods, oh my gods,” he moaned, trembling all over, as Caleb sucked the rest of his cum off his oversensitive, softening cock and sat back on his heels, panting. If Molly were an artist, he thought, he’d paint the image in front of him so he could keep it forever. Caleb’s hair was in disarray from Molly’s pulling, his lips shiny and red and swollen, a small drop of white marring his soft copper beard. He looked like pure temptation.

“Holy fucking _shit_ ,” Molly managed, his soul coming back to his body. Caleb ran his hands over Molly’s bound legs and jerked his head towards the bed.

“I’m not finished with you, _Kätzchen_.”

“Mmm, yes sir,” Molly sighed, echoing the game they’d played last time they went to bed together.

“That’s what I like to hear,” Caleb purred, slapping Molly on the ass as he walked past him.

Molly arranged himself on the bed, stretched out on his front with his chin in his hands and his tail making slow figure eights behind him. Caleb stood and undressed, the sight raising a tickle of excitement in Molly’s belly. He wasn’t anywhere near ready to be hard again, but Caleb had a very handsome figure and Molly didn’t think he’d ever get tired of watching him disrobe.

He rolled over onto his back when Caleb approached, a low purr rumbling through his chest. The sight of Caleb’s erection sent another bolt of arousal through him; the blowjob he’d just gotten was incredible, but he wanted to get fucked properly tonight.

“Such a sweet Kitten,” Caleb praised, lifting one of Molly’s legs to run his fingers over the patterns written on Molly’s skin in rope. Molly was relaxed and hazy, smiling lazily, and every touch felt like lightning.

“Did you like going around like this all day?” Caleb whispered as he leaned down and kissed Molly, soft and seductive.

“Yes, gods, I loved it…”

“Mmmm, I have been waiting all day to get your clothes off and look at you like this again…I feel like I wrote my name on you,” Caleb murmured, pausing to suck a love bite into Molly’s shoulder. “Marked you.”

“I’m yours, I am,” Molly breathed. “My body is yours, everything, it all belongs to you.”

“That’s right,” Caleb hummed, pleased. “Good boy. _Mein_ sweet, needy _Kätzchen_.”

“Please, please fuck me,” Molly whined, running his hands over his own chest, arching up into the places Caleb touched him.

“I think I would like to hear you tell me again.”

“Tell you what? Anything, Caleb, anything you want-“

“Tell me who owns you, baby,” Caleb growled in his ear.

“Oh gods, you do, you do, every bit of me is yours.”

“And what does that mean?”

“It means you can do anything you want with me, anything, use me, please, gods, I need it-”

“Mmmm, that is all you are good for, ja?” Caleb bit down on Molly’s shoulder again. Molly was almost sobbing, the ache in his stomach almost painful. He was half-hard again already, his ass clenching around nothing - and then he felt a warm, slick finger pressing lightly against his rim.

“I asked you a question.”

“Yes, sir, yes, you’re right, that’s all I’m good for,” Molly whined, spreading his legs eagerly. Caleb’s tongue was still dancing over his neck, and the hand that reached between them grabbed a handful of Molly’s ass at the same time as his teeth sank into Molly’s shoulder again. Molly gasped, his fingers tangling in Caleb’s hair.

“Did I tell you to stop?” Caleb demanded, settling back on his heels and spreading Molly’s thighs.

“N-no,” Molly choked. “Fuck, I mean it, I’m only fit to be used, I’m your plaything, and I’ll do anything for you, gods, anything, I want - I want to be your p-property.” Molly’s face was hot with embarrassment at the words spilling out of him, but he meant it, every damn one, and the burn of Caleb’s gaze into his only intensified when Caleb pushed his oiled finger into Molly’s hole.

“F-fuck, ohhhh, gods, that feels ah- amazing!”

“That’s all you have to say?” Caleb demanded. “You expect me to fuck you after that demonstration? I know you can beg prettier than that, Kitten.”

“No, I can, I can,” Molly whimpered. “It’s just - ahhhhh, fuck! - hard with y-your fingers in me!”

“I would think that should be when it is easiest, if you want it as bad as you say you do. I would think an obedient kitten would learn to control his desperate little cock long enough to do what he was ordered. Now, tell me why I should fuck you.”

“Because I’m your good kitten,” Molly gasped, trembling as a second finger teased at his rim alongside the first. “I belong to you, and y-you can u-use me, use my body, and my mouth, and my ass, anything, anything you want, sir-“

“And why can I do that, _Kätzchen_?” Caleb asked sweetly, the tip of his second finger just breaching alongside the first, promising more, if Molly could satisfy him.

“Because my body belongs to you.” Caleb pushed in a little further, but only down to the second knuckle, waiting, and every inch of Molly’s body cried out for more. “A-and it’s nothing. Nothing without you. I’m nothing without youuuuuu, oh fuck!” Molly cried out as Caleb pushed both fingers in all the way, hooking them to press on Molly’s prostate on on his next thrust.

“I’m not worth anything except to please you,” Molly babbled, every humiliating word increasing the raw desperation that blocked out every other thought. “I’m nothing. Only good at being a hole for you to use. I live to please you, I was made to please you, I promise, please, sir, I’m begging you to claim me, fill me up with your spend, so I can show you I’m yours.”

Caleb pushed a third slick finger in beside the first two and moaned as Molly clenched around him.

“What is it you need, you desperate, insatiable slut? My cock in your ass? You think you have earned that?”

“N-no,” Molly whimpered. “I don’t, but I want it if it would please you.” Caleb seemed satisfied with that answer and a grin pulled at the corners of his mouth.

“That’s right you do. You want me to cum in your pretty ass so you do not forget who you belong to, isn’t that right?” He stretched Molly gently, and Molly was moaning, grinding his hips into Caleb’s hand.

“Yes, y-yessss, gods, fuck, that’s right, I want to leak your cum all day tomorrow,” Molly gasped. Caleb sighed and pulled his fingers out.

“What a filthy mouth you have.” Molly whined in protest, his ass clenching down around emptiness. “I’m going to fill it to keep it quiet, or you’ll cum all over yourself just from saying these pathetic things.”

Molly sucked in a breath as Caleb pulled more rope and one of the scarves from the first night, freshly cleaned and folded, out of the nightstand. Caleb roughly stuffed the wadded up scarf into Molly’s mouth, and he moaned around it, his cock dripping on his stomach. Caleb took Molly’s hands and placed them flat against his ankles.

“Keep these there.”

Caleb pushed Molly’s legs into his chest and bound each wrist to its respective ankle.

“Mmmm, that’s a good kitten, taking what I give you without complaint. Because you know you are lucky I so much as let you kiss my boots, ja?” Molly nodded vigorously. “Good boy, knowing your place. Now.” Caleb’s face turned serious.

“Hum a little tune for me.” Molly furrowed his brow in confusion but quickly fixed his face back into submission and did as asked. “ _Gut_. That is what you are going to do if you need to pause.” Molly nodded.

Caleb fixed Molly’s legs so his ankles were hooked over Caleb’s shoulders; this position pulled him up slightly, into a half sitting, V shape, and he whined behind his gag. The tip of Caleb’s cock pressed against the rim of Molly’s loose, slick hole, and Molly almost clenched around it, choking, his body trying to pull it in.

“Your slutty ass simply cannot wait, ja?” Molly groaned as plaintively as he could with his mouth full. Caleb turned his head to press a kiss to Molly’s calf. “I will give you what you need.”

Molly’s muscles went slack and he let the ropes and Caleb’s arms around him hold him up, as the full length of Caleb’s thick cock pushed deep inside him. His noises were muffled by the gag, which, he thought hazily, was probably a good thing, especially once Caleb started thrusting in earnest. The angle was just right for the head of his cock to hit Molly’s prostate on every thrust in, and Molly was almost crying, the intensity of the stimulation, the intimacy, the need to cum again, so overwhelming.

Caleb’s speed picked up, and his moans got more ragged and desperate as he pounded into Molly, burying himself deep in the tight heat of Molly’s ass. Molly sucked on the bundle of the gag, his bouncing cock twitching with every movement of his jaw.

“Ohhhh, _baby_ ,” Caleb groaned, his thrusts becoming more erratic. “Yes, yes, yes, you feel so fucking good, gods, _Molly-“_ Caleb gasped and his hips jerked forward and he was finished, shaking against Molly as he released inside him. Molly whined at the warm wet splash on his insides, his only thoughts about the comfort and safety of being owned, of being given meaning by being used. Caleb wrapped his hand around Molly’s cock and pumped, his hand smooth with oil. Molly was grateful for the gag, because then Caleb pulled out and replaced his cock with three fingers, all immediately pressing hard on Molly’s prostate; when he came, the shout that tore from his throat was so powerful he worried for a second that it could’ve been heard out on the street.

Molly’s cum shot all over his chest, pumping streaks of white over his lavender skin. Trembling, Molly let his eyes flutter shut and his brain float through space, outside himself with pleasure. _Owned, owned, owned_.

By the time he came back to his body, Molly was mostly untied. His ankles and wrists had been separated immediately, and Caleb was gently but efficiently untying the bonds on his left leg. When he unraveled the rope that had sat in the crease of Molly’s hip, he frowned.

“Baby, why didn’t you tell me it was hurting you?” Molly cracked open an eye.

“Hmm?”

“The rope, it chafed you here. You could have come to me and I could have fixed it so it would not rub like this.” He tutted over Molly’s chafed skin, though Molly himself had hardly even noticed it. “I am sorry, Mollymauk, I did not mean for this to happen. Just - here, let me -“ Caleb leaned back to his nightstand and pulled out a small jar of the skin balm Caduceus made. “I, ah, took this from the bathroom just in case. Would you let me put it on you?” Molly nodded and gave an exhausted half-smile.

Caleb finished removing the remainder of the rope, cleaned Molly off with a damp cloth - Molly hadn’t even noticed him get up to get the washbasin - unscrewed the jar and scooped a bit of purple goop onto his fingers. Caleb stroked Molly’s thighs and rubbed the ointment into Molly’s chafed skin. The scent of warm spices and roasted nuts wafted up from the jar, and Molly sighed with relief as the balm tingled on his skin, relieving the rawness he hadn’t realized was there.

He was struck, as Caleb carefully massaged the healing ointment into his skin, at the tenderness and care that was being lavished on him. It occurred to Molly that so far, sex with Caleb felt different every time. The first two times they had sex, Molly certainly felt that Caleb wanted him, but it was like trying to get a fireplace to light. It was a slower burn, coaxing, with patient, deliberate moves to pull the pleasure out, bit by bit. This time felt like a brush fire, like watching a force of nature blaze across a dry landscape, cutting away the chaff to expose the good soil underneath. Caleb was a whirlwind from the second Molly stepped over the threshold, all heat and grasping hands and teeth and need. Molly loved it.

Caleb replaced the lid of the jar and laid down on his side next to Molly, pulling a blanket over the two of them. He propped up on one elbow, his other hand playing with Molly’s hair.

“You did so wonderfully,” Caleb murmured, twirling Molly’s curls in his fingers. “I’m so proud of you.” Molly scooted in, letting Caleb put an arm around him and turn onto his back, so Molly was resting on his chest.

“Just to remind you,” Caleb whispered, “you are not worthless. I do not really think myself your superior. You are very special and very talented and I am lucky to bring you to bed, not the other way around, okay?”

“I’ll gladly take the compliments, darling,” Molly purred, though the genuineness of Caleb’s praise touched him and made warmth roll through his chest.

“Did you like wearing those all day?”

“Yeah, I really did,” Molly sighed, warm, sleepy fog drifting over his consciousness. “It was so hot.”

“Ja, I really meant it when I said I could not stop thinking about it all day,” Caleb said. “I could hardly wait to get you in here.”

“Yeah, speaking of that,” Molly said, raising his head to see Caleb’s face. “How the fuck did you get so good at sucking cock?” Caleb’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink, and Molly couldn’t help but smile.

“Ah, well, I mean…I did go to boarding school.” He shrugged with a sheepish face and Molly chuckled.

“Again, four years at the Empire’s most prestigious magic academy and that’s what you learned.”

“I learned other things too!” Caleb huffed. He raised one hand and sent up his dancing lights, casting both of them in a soft amber glow.

“Is that particular talent what got you that threesome you mentioned last week?” Molly teased, tracing nonsense patterns over Caleb’s chest with his nails. “You never did share the story.”

“Ja, I do not think Jester will ever let me live peacefully without knowing it. But I prefer to keep those types of, ah, personal details to myself.”

Molly felt his stomach sink a little with disappointment, but not because he cared tremendously about the story. He sort of hoped, he realized, that maybe he wasn’t in the same category as the rest of the Nein when it came to these things. As soon as Molly recognized that feeling, he squashed it. This was an arrangement of mutual benefit, not a relationship. It didn’t grant him privileged access to Caleb’s interiority and there was no reason to expect it would.

“Oh, of course, you don’t need to share anything you don’t want to. That’s your business,” Molly said, feigning more casualness than he felt. Caleb was silent for a long moment.

“I mean, I do not mind telling you, if you really want to know. I trust you to be…discreet.”

“I have to admit, I’m quite curious.”

“It is not such a story, I suppose. My best friend and my girlfriend approached me about the idea and I agreed.”

“The two of _them_ approached you? Were they sleeping together or something?”

“No, no, I mean, I guess not that I was aware of anyway.”

“But she wanted to be shared with the two of you?”

“Ah, well, it was more of the two of them sharing me,” Caleb mumbled, his face bright red. Molly gasped.

“Mister Caleb! So you didn’t always prefer being in charge, then."

“Nein, I used to very much prefer being in your position.” Molly’s mouth went dry at the image of a younger Caleb, bound, on his knees, begging to be used the way Molly had been begging an hour ago.

“What changed?” Molly asked.

“I did.” He didn’t elaborate, and Molly didn’t press. “Can I get you some water? I’m sorry, I forgot earlier.”

“I wouldn’t turn it down.”

“Ja, okay, I will be right back.” Caleb kissed Molly on the head and rolled out of bed, going to the dresser for his pajama pants. When he stepped over to the door, he paused and bent down to where Molly’s pants were in a heap.

“Ah, I did not realize your cards were in your pocket, Molly, here. I did not mean to leave them on the floor.” Caleb scooped up Molly’s tarot cards and handed them over to him.

“Oh, no worries, these aren’t my personalized ones. I let Jester borrow them earlier, so clearly I don’t care all that much about them.” Caleb laughed at that and kissed Molly on the head again.

“Okay, ja, I will be right back.”

Molly sat cross legged in the bed, lazily shuffling and browsing through his cards. He started laying out a pattern, just to do something with his hands, when Caleb returned with a water pitcher.

“Are you preparing to tell my fortune?” Caleb laughed, pouring Molly a glass of water and handing it to him. “Should I be worried?”

“No, no, just playing with the cards,” Molly reassured him. “I could do a reading for you though, if you like. Payment for services rendered.” He winked and Caleb grinned.

“Ah, sure, if you want. I must warn you though that I truly do not believe in those things.”

“Don’t need to, it’s just a bit of fun.” He directed Caleb to lay out a basic spread of ten cards. “So this is sort of the usual one I would do for people, if they didn’t have any problem in particular they were asking for advice about. It’s supposed to tell you about problems in your life and how to understand it and solve it. So, are you ready to have your whole life fixed?” Molly quipped.

“I think you will need a lot more cards for that.” Molly chuckled, the teasing sparkle in Caleb’s blue eyes sending a shiver down his spine.

“Alright, let’s get to it then. The first card is about you, where you are in life right now. Knight of wands usually refers to material advancement, but it can be metaphorical too. You’ve grasped an opportunity and are moving forward with it, that’s good, suggests you’re in a good place…. Now, let’s see, your problem.”

Molly turned over the second card and immediately felt his face flush. Of course. The Lovers. Caleb turned his head to see it and laughed.

“I have to say, I do not really think that is a problem in my life right now. I’m, ah, not really looking for anyone, as I have said.” Fuck. Did Caleb think Molly was coming on to him like that?

“Tell that to the cards, darling,” Molly quipped, trying for superficial now that he was in dangerous waters. “It usually means you have a _chance_ to love someone who may be able to love you too, but it doesn’t have to be that kind of love, I guess, it could be something else. So an opportunity, maybe, to have something you’ve wanted.”

The Lovers were definitely not metaphorical, but Molly was treading water and trying to steer away from uncomfortable conclusions. Caleb’s love life, his actual love life, wasn’t any of his business, he reminded himself, and talking too much about it might give Caleb the impression that Molly thought this was more than it was. No, he could bullshit a little and make it another type of love.

“The third card is for past events, and how they influence the current situation. The Fool. The Fool stands for innocence, carefree ignorance, moving blindly forward - so it could be that you were, at one time, the Fool, and it hurt you, or put a roadblock in your way that relates to your current problem.” Caleb was quiet, chin resting in his hand, watching Molly intently with a small smile on his face.

“The fourth is for future events. Not necessarily the ultimate outcome, but how things might go if nothing changes in the short term. Seven of wands. Lots of wands for you tonight, dear. Guess the cards know you’re a wizard.” That got him a small chuckle. Molly relaxed a little. “Seven of wands stands for competition. It’s usually a warning that someone is going to try to take what you have.”

Molly ignored the warmth in his face and flipped over the next card: the knight of pentacles.

“This is your conscious focus, where you’re putting your attention right now, and of course this one makes perfect sense because it represents intellectual advancement, and I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone as committed to intellectual advancement as you. But this next one represents your unconscious focus, what thoughts or feelings or desires are really driving your current situation.”

Flip the card. Two of cups. _Godsdamn these cards_ , Molly thought. _You couldn’t give me something easy and flirty and superficial?_

“Ah, well, this one stands for a bond. Could be, um, companions, or lovers, or just someone to share with. The desire for a bond.” There was little salvaging that one with bullshit, so Molly moved on quickly.

“The page of cups indicates that in this situation, whatever it is, you see yourself as a helpful and comforting friend, and that is somehow influencing the circumstances. The eighth card, two of swords, suggests that you are at a crossroads in life, external to this specific situation, you have two directions you could take which are both risky, but you have to choose one, and that’s complicating all the rest of this.”

Molly flipped over the final two cards: Seven of swords, and Strength.

“This one represents your hopes and fears. It can be kind of confusing because sometimes it’s both, sometimes it’s just one, sometimes it’s one masquerading as the other, but this one’s pretty clear - seven of swords is betrayal. You’re afraid of being betrayed.” Caleb stayed silent, still looking only at Molly and hardly at the cards. His expression was impossible to interpret.

“Uh, finally, this is the outcome, the ultimate outcome, and it stands for victory where or when it’s least expected.” Molly scooped up his cards hurriedly and put them back in his deck. “Cool, huh?”

“Ja, very interesting,” Caleb murmured. “You are good at this. The…interpretation part.” Molly shrugged, not looking Caleb in the eye.

“Well it helps that I know you. When someone just walks into your tent and wants a reading and you wouldn’t know them from a hole in the ground, you’ve got to be able to throw out different interpretations until you find one that seems to stick.”

Caleb reached out and took Molly’s hand, giving it a small squeeze. Molly smiled shyly and squeezed back, then a yawn pushed its way out.

“I think I ought to be getting to bed,” Molly said reluctantly. Caleb nodded.

“Good night, Mollymauk.”

He leaned in and pulled Molly forward for a kiss, warm and gentle. Molly wanted to melt into that contact, could keep going like this if Caleb wanted to - but he didn’t. Molly stopped himself from chasing after Caleb’s lips when he pulled away, forcing his body to stay put. He hesitated at the door - it wasn’t that late, he didn’t need to go yet - but forced his hand to the knob. He glanced back at Caleb, who looked like a dream propped up in bed, book already in hand.

“Looking forward to next time.”

“Sleep well, Molly.”

Molly gave him a small smile and left, closing the door behind him firmly, despite everything in him that wanted to go back.


	4. ah the fitful sleep and the fire engines, that I dream of when I dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fair warning that this is not proofread yet 😂 just wanted to get it posted and I'll go over it again in the morning! Enjoy!

“Molly, what happened to your _neck_?!” Jester gasped.

Molly’s heart bolted out of his chest; he saw Caleb freeze for a split second as he reached for the coffeepot. Molly looked at her quizzically to buy himself a second.

“I’m not sure what you mean, darling.” Jester came over and started fiddling with the collar of his shirt, pressing on a tender spot on Molly’s neck that must have bruised without him realizing it.

“This! Gods, Molly!”

“Oh, I went on a date last night,” Molly lied smoothly, gently pushing Jester’s fingers away before she saw the marks that were definitely noticeable on his shoulders. “Guy must’ve left it.”

“Fuck, what was he, a vampire?” Beau asked incredulously. “I can see fucking _teeth_ marks from here.” Molly could’ve sworn he heard a quiet scoff from across the table and resisted the urge to glare at Caleb.

“Guess so,” Molly shot back, nonchalant as ever.

“Tell us about him!” Jester exclaimed. “Where did you meet? What’s he like? What does he do?” Fortunately, Molly was a well-practiced bullshitter.

“A gentleman never kisses and tells, Jes.”

“I’m not asking how the _sex_ was I’m asking about the guy!”

“He just works at one of the bookshops downtown,” Molly fibbed. “Struck up a conversation last time I was doing some shopping and he asked me for a drink, that’s all.”

“Bookshop? Which one? Maybe Cayleb knows him!” Molly felt nervous laughter bubbling up in his throat and forced it down.

“Come now, I’m not going to give away all my secrets, or you’ll be hunting him out to go bother him.”

“Is he a drow?” Jester quizzed.

“Of course, darling, isn’t everyone in this city?” Jester gasped.

“Oh my _gosh_ but Molly, you said yesterday when we were doing tarot cards that you weren’t looking for like, a relationship right now! Or were you just trying to get laid?”

“Don’t you think this is a lot of personal questions for breakfast, Jester?” Fjord groused, reaching blearily for the coffeepot. “Let Molly have his privacy. It’s none of our business what he does or who he dates.” Jester stuck her tongue out at Fjord playfully and scampered over to Molly’s side of the table to come sit with him.

“Tell me everything,” she said in hushed tones. “Did you go back to his place? You didn’t bring him here, did you? I feel like we _totally_ would’ve seen him if you brought him here. Oh my gosh. What’s he look like? How’s his hair?”

“Oh it’s the softest,” Molly purred, putting his hand over Jester’s. “It’s sort of messy and long and wavy, it’s very cute.”

“A lot of the drow guys wear their hair long,” Jester said, nodding sagely. “It’s _so_ cute! Essek keeps his hair short which like, it looks good on him, but it seems like it’s not really normal. What about the rest of him? Does he like have a good body?”

“Well I don’t think we have the same taste, but, good for me,” Molly said innocently, taking a sip of his coffee and catching a pair of blue eyes boring into him. He couldn’t help a devilish smirk spreading over his face as he turned back to Jester.

“Does he have nice eyes?” Jester sighed, leaning in, her smile sparkling.

“They’re gorgeous. Stop your heart gorgeous.” He didn’t dare sneak a glance at Caleb, but knew the human could hear him. Jester squealed.

“Oooooh, he sounds so _handsome_ , Molly! So when you went for the drink, okay, was he like, super romantic about it? Like oh Molly let’s go for a walk and look at the beautiful stars and we just happen to be near my house if you want to come in or was it more like, oh my gosh Molly you are so hot I totally need to have you right now?”

“Ah, more of the latter,” Molly replied, smirking wickedly as the memory of last night wormed its way through his veins.

“Soooooo how was it? You know, the hmmm hmmm?” The accompanying hand gesture left nothing to the imagination.

“Phenomenal.”

“And his, you know? Big?”

“I found it _quite_ satisfying,” Molly replied, the slight blush in Caleb’s cheeks not escaping his notice when he turned his gaze away from Jester for another sip of coffee.

“So are you gonna see him again?” Molly grinned.

“I certainly hope so. He knows how to reach me.” Jester squealed and threw her arms around Molly’s neck.

“Oh my gosh, that’s so _exciting!_ I hope you see him soon! Maybe this is like, what the cards were saying yesterday, you _think_ you’re not ready for love but maybe you like totally are and this is the guy who’s gonna come and prove you wrong.”

“You never know,” Molly placated. When Jester leapt up and moved on to her next target, Caleb caught Molly’s eye, amused and clearly relieved at Molly’s smooth fabrication. Molly grinned back and made a mental note to wear more scarves.

~~~

Silence. Endless silence. The kind of quiet Molly knew he’d never hear again, the kind of silence that wasn’t just the absence of sound, but the swallowing of it. There was nothing to make a sound. Nothing living to produce a noise.

First breath. Dry. Choking. Sour tang of dirt and soil, filling his mouth, his nose, _can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe._

Molly opened his eyes, pure inky blackness, not a mote of light. The pressure, the crushing pressure, was all around, making every movement a herculean effort. There was no way to know which way he’d been placed in the ground, but the soil above felt looser than that below, so he pushed his hands up into it and started to claw, handfuls of grave dirt - _his_ grave dirt - raining down on him, filling his eyes and mouth, but the more he dug, the harder it got. His muscles got tired, he could feel them burning, threatening to give out, how long had he been down here, without food, without water, his body was hardly working anymore, but there was no end in sight. The dirt went on. Forever and forever and forever. When he tried to lift his arm and it wouldn’t go, Molly knew he would die down here. He had gotten a last breath, one more chance at life, and he clung to it so desperately, but couldn’t break out of his tomb. He’d die trapped between the surface and his grave. Molly let his arm fall to his side and waited for his breath to leave him again.

Molly awoke in a cold sweat, chest heaving, his sheets soaked. He whipped around wildly for a second, getting his bearings, but - he was in his room. In the Xhorhaus. He was safe, and alive, and here, and real.

Molly let the gasping breaths slow on their own, until his chest was rising and falling at a normal register. He doubted he’d be able to go back to sleep. The shivering, the panic was still there, just under his skin. Molly pulled on his pajama pants and padded down to the washroom, where he splashed cool water on his face and sat on the edge of the tub for a few minutes, waiting for the nausea to subside. The water dripped down his face and the pounding in his chest continued. After waiting to no avail for the physical symptoms of his panic to die down, Molly sighed and went down to the library to look for something to read. He had no idea what time it was but tried to be very quiet, tiptoeing through the house, figuring everyone ought to be asleep by now if they weren’t. When he crept into the library, he wasn’t surprised to see that Caleb was still up, judging by the warm candlelight coming from under the door. The wizard kept strange hours and slept poorly, and Molly felt a mixture of emotions roiling through his stomach - sadness, that Caleb also had trouble sleeping, the desire for companionship, to go see what he was up to, which he resisted, and a strange feeling of…relief? Molly was a little surprised to identify some definite comfort mixed in there, that at least he wasn’t the only one awake in the middle of the night.

No, he wouldn’t bother Caleb. He wasn’t looking for anything tonight, and if Caleb was up working this late, or reading, it was probably precisely because he wanted to be left alone. Molly busied himself with the books, looking for the offset section away from the “serious” books where Jester and Caleb shelved the pulp fiction they swapped back and forth. Molly wasn’t a habitual enough reader to have his own smut collection - he generally far preferred the real thing, and didn’t have much trouble getting it - and settled for the first thing he grabbed.

 _Handsome and Haunting_ seemed to be about two Goliaths, a man and a woman, based on the cover. Molly rolled his eyes a little at the cheesy description printed on the first page, but he needed mindless distraction until his body was tired enough to fall asleep, and it’d do.

Despite his attempts to wear his brain out with reading, drinking or card games with Nott before bed, the next three nights passed much the same way for Molly. He woke up every night with a scream caught in his throat, clawing at his blankets. The third night he dreamt that he started to reach the surface, and then immediately took a shovelful of dirt to the face - someone was burying him. He tried to scream for help, but another clump of soil filled his mouth and he choked on it, the burning of his lungs becoming more desperate as he tried fruitlessly to expel the stony dirt from his airway.

When Molly woke from that dream, he rolled over and retched on the floor, his body convinced that his throat was filling with soil. No - his body remembering what it was like to wake up with a throat full of soil. Molly, exhausted, scrubbed the vomit from the floor of his bedroom. It was the fourth night in a row of aborted sleep.

The evening after that, Molly resolved to get ahead of the inevitable collapse by passing out long enough to get a few hours before the dreams could get to him. He sat up in bed, still reading the romance novel, sleep tugging at his eyelids. His leg bounced under the blankets, restless, and Molly found he couldn’t focus on the book. Anxiety was starting to creep in, take hold of his heart, squeezing gradually, minute by minute, until Molly felt like a brick was lodged in his lungs.

_For fuck’s sake, I can’t get one night?_

Frustrated, he tore off the blankets, snatching his robe off the back of the door and tying it off at his waist with a huff. He knew he was a sight, totally beat, bags under his eyes, his silk robe wrinkled and hair disheveled. Normally, he wouldn’t let his physical state get this bad, or at least wouldn’t show it to anyone, but he was at the end of his rope and needed relief.

In the kitchen, Molly searched the jars for the tea Caduceus had told him would help him sleep dreamlessly. He wasn’t the only member of the Nein who used it, but he was probably the one who went for it most often. _The jar might as well have your name on it_ , he thought bitterly. Cad had warned him that it was powerful stuff, not to be used except as a last resort. Well, Molly was at the point of last resort now.

The tea smelled like fish and eggs and tasted about as pleasant, but Molly couldn’t care less. He took one of the teapots down from the shelf, scooped the leaves into the basket, and set a pot of water to boil. His head was pounding. _One night, gods, just one night, please._ Molly leaned over the counter and cradled his head in his hands, his mood darkening with every passing second.

“Mollymauk?”

Molly shot up from the counter - and immediately smashed his head into the bottom of the cabinets.

“ _Fuck!”_

“Oh, _scheisse_ , Molly, are you alright?” He felt a hand on his shoulder and when the ringing in his head cleared, he saw Caleb staring at him, eyes wide. _Of course it would be him, when you look like something Frumpkin dragged in_.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, you just surprised me,” Molly mumbled.

“Is your head okay?” What a question.

“It’s fine, thanks.” Please, gods, could this water boil any fucking slower?

“You are up late,” Caleb observed, leaning his side against the counter. The question was obvious, though he left it unasked, in case Molly would rather leave it unanswered.

“Yeah, I came down for some of the uh, sleepy tea Caduceus makes. Been having trouble sleeping the last few days.” Caleb held up his mug sheepishly.

“I was actually coming in for the same thing.”

“You’re having trouble sleeping too?” Molly asked, nudging Caleb with his shoulder.

“I often do.”

“Me too.”

The two stood in silence for a long few moments, watching the water boil. Molly knew Caleb could expedite that process, and the grumpy, tired part of him wanted to know why he wasn’t, and the softer part of him that found comfort in the companionship was grateful.

“Dreams?” Caleb asked quietly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Yeah. They don’t feel like it though. Feels real.” Caleb nodded.

“Ja, I know those.” He glanced over at Molly. “Forgive me if this is too, ah, I do not know what, but if there is anything I can do to help…you know where to find me.”

The tension in Molly’s body eased, just slightly, just enough. He gave Caleb a small smile.

“Thank you.”

Caleb squeezed Molly’s shoulder. The teapot whistle broke the silence, and Caleb snuffed the flame with a wave of his hand. Molly poured the water into the carafe, wrinkling his nose at the fragrance wafting up.

“Gods, this stuff is vile.” Caleb chuckled. He reached up into the cabinet above Molly and drew down a whiskey bottle. With a mischievous glint in his eye, Caleb poured a generous shot into each of their cups.

“The burn disguises the taste. To dreamless sleep.” He raised his mug and Molly met it with a clink.

“To dreamless sleep.”

“Good night, Mollymauk.” Caleb turned and left the kitchen before Molly had a chance to say good night.

The tea helped, the next two nights at least. Blessedly, Molly’s dreams were more muted, less visceral, and that, he was counting as a victory. But then, the fear crept back in, and Molly found himself lying in bed, shivering, unable to fall asleep because his stomach was roiling with anxiety.

“Oh, fuck this,” he muttered to himself, grabbing his robe off the door again and marching downstairs. This time, Molly didn’t turn off at the kitchen - instead, he went straight to the library, where soft amber light flickered from under Caleb’s door.

_Knock knock knock._

There was a moment of pause, then a rustling, and Caleb opened the door. His eyebrows shot up in surprise, and then lowered in concern.

“Mollymauk?” Molly felt instant regret coil in his belly. He shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t be bothering Caleb at this hour. _What are you_ doing?

“Um…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t bother you-“

“Come in, please.” Molly hesitated, but stepped through the door, pushing it shut behind him.

“You are not bothering me at all, I was awake.” Caleb stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, seemingly unsure what type of visit this was. Fear and exhaustion and anger and embarrassment well up in Molly’s chest. _This is pathetic. You shouldn’t be here._ His throat felt like it was about to burst, the ball of emotion pushing up despite his desperate willing to keep it down.

Not knowing what else to do, Molly dropped to his knees.

“Please.”

The air was still for a minute, and Molly squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for Caleb to send him away, hoping against hope he wouldn’t.

Three soft footsteps padded over to him and a warm hand carded through his hair. He could’ve cried for relief. Molly leaned into the grounding touch, pressing his head into Caleb’s palm.

“Make me useful,” he whispered, his broken voice giving away his desperation without his permission. "Make me stop thinking."

“Take off your robe and get on the bed. On your front.” Caleb’s voice was soft, gentle, but his tone left no room for argument, even if Molly were so inclined. Molly rose shakily, the pressure in his chest already starting to deflate, his pulse starting to slow.

Caleb turned back to his desk and methodically removed his clothing, folding each item carefully. Molly was already on the bed, nude, on his stomach like Caleb had ordered. He worked hard to regulate his breath, sinking his face into the pillow and inhaling the familiar, intimate smell of Caleb that lingered on the sheets, sweet lemon zest and summer melon.

The bed dipped when Caleb kneeled next to Molly, rummaging around in his nightstand for things Molly couldn’t see with his face pressed into the pillow. Not knowing was a little more exciting. Molly almost regretted pulling his head up, out of the dark and soft that felt comforting, but Caleb was here, and Caleb wouldn’t let anything bad happen to him. The warm haze of submission began to drift down, hovering over Molly’s mind and waiting to drop.

“So needy tonight,” Caleb murmured, running his hand through Molly’s hair. “You needed to be used so badly you came to me in the middle of the night and threw yourself at my feet?”

“Yes,” Molly whimpered, already half-hard from anticipation. Caleb’s grip tightened and he pulled Molly’s head up to make eye contact.

“I am going to take everything I want from you, then. Your pretty head is in a tizzy because you have forgotten what your purpose is.”

“My purpose is to please you,” Molly whined, pressing his hips into the mattress in a bid for more friction. Caleb pulled Molly’s head up further, making a low groan spill from Molly’s mouth.

“If you want to hump like a dog, I will give you a toy to fuck yourself with and I will get back to my work.”

“No, no, I’m sorry,” Molly begged. “I need you…”

“Then show me you are worth the effort.” The degrading indifference in Caleb’s voice washed over Molly’s hazy, desperate brain and the warm rush of submission rolled through his veins. He wanted to be good, he wanted to prove that he was good for something, he wanted, he wanted, he wanted.

Caleb let go of Molly’s head and turned back to the nightstand.

“I am going to put a blindfold on you, because you have difficulty staying on task, _Kätzchen_ , but first, look at these, and tell me if any of them are not acceptable to you.” Caleb gestured to the selection of objects on his nightstand, and Molly’s mouth went dry. Yes, he wanted it, he wanted every single thing Caleb had laid out.

“Yes, yes please,” Molly breathed. Caleb grinned.

“Lift your hair for me,” Caleb ordered, his face stern again. Molly did so and Caleb tied the familiar periwinkle scarf around his eyes, slipping a finger underneath to check it wasn’t too tight. Molly was still tense, the memory of fitful sleep and waking up gasping for breath tethering him to the world outside this room, keeping him from fully submerging himself in the hazy warmth Caleb was offering.

“On your knees.” Molly obeyed eagerly, sitting up in the middle of the bed with his hands in his lap. His tail pattered on the bed behind him.

“Now tell me, what do you think I should do with you tonight?”

“Anything you want,” Molly replied dutifully.

“So if I wanted you to lay here while I stroked myself off on your pretty face?”

“Then you should.” Molly’s voice was a little shaky, the depth of his arousal peeking through.

“And if I wanted to watch you kneel on my floor for the rest of the night?”

“Then I would,” Molly whispered. “Anything you like.”

“I have some reading I would like to complete, seeing as you interrupted me.”

Cold fear shot through Molly’s heart, and he opened his mouth to call for a pause - before he could, Caleb added,

“I will not leave you. I am getting up only for a moment and I will not leave this room.”

Molly blew out a sigh in relief, and fixed himself into what he thought was a very pretty kneeling pose, eager to show that he was a worthwhile investment.

True to his word, Caleb stood for barely ten seconds before Molly felt the mattress shift again and Caleb’s hand was on his shoulder. It was hard to tell, but Molly thought Caleb settled himself in at the head of the bed, propped up against the headboard. He felt a small, cool bottle being pressed into his hand.

“Open yourself up while I finish my book.”

Molly nodded obediently, his cock definitely hard now, the twin potions of lust and submission coursing through him. The turning of pages reminded him of the first time he and Caleb had gone to bed together, when he was put under the desk while Caleb worked. It was oddly comforting, and Molly was loathe to break the peaceful quiet, but as soon as his first oiled finger started circling his entrance, he couldn’t hold still. It was dizzyingly hot to be watched like this, knowing his every movement was being catalogued by those blue eyes and that keen mind.

The pages kept turning at the same pace, once a minute - Caleb apparently unruffled by the naked, hard, squirming tiefling in front of him. Molly bit his lip and slid in a second finger as soon as he was loose enough to accept it, his core screaming out for Caleb’s long fingers instead, to reach into the places Molly couldn’t get on his own. His breath was coming in gasps and stutters now; the blindfold let him sink into a freer space, one where he could stop thinking and just feel.

With a bit of stretching, Molly managed to brush against his prostate and trembled, pleasure rocketing through him from just that slight touch. He could only imagine what he looked like right about now, flushed and hard and sweaty, his legs spread with one hand reaching behind himself. And those damn pages kept turning at the same pace. For all Molly knew, Caleb wasn’t even reading and was just turning the pages to drive Molly crazy with the sound. It would be just like the cheeky bastard.

“You are taking an awful long time at that, Kitten,” Caleb mused, seemingly uninterested. Another page turn. “You are only stretching yourself, ja? You would not dare finger yourself for pleasure right in front of me, would you?”

“N-no,” Molly choked, quickly adding a third finger. Caleb must have seen Molly’s guilty expression, because Molly felt him shift and long, warm fingers grasp him under the chin. The motions of his hand became more erratic, and Molly felt the slow drag of two fingertips across his bottom lip. He opened for them right away, but Caleb pushed them in for only a second before drawing them back out, pulling a whine from Molly’s throat. He sat back, or so Molly thought. Another page turn.

“I have indulged you and your bad behaviors too much,” Caleb sighed. “My kitten thinks he can give himself pleasure whenever he likes.” Another page turn.

“I’m good, I promise, I’ve been good,” Molly whined.

“Hush. Have you forgotten your place? Who decides whether you are good?”

“…You do.”

“And what is your pleasure for?”

“M-my pleasure is for you.”

“That’s right. It is for me to take, and for me to use. Do you need me to write that down for you?”

“No, sir.”

“Good. Now bring your filthy mouth over here so I can fill it, because I do not want to hear you speak anymore.”

Molly pulled his fingers out and leaned forward, waiting for Caleb to guide him in the right direction.

“Ah, one more thing.” Caleb tapped Molly’s hand and he opened it, feeling a small glass spade shaped object drop into his hand. “Put that in so that I do not have to go through the trouble of stretching you again, once I decide you earned the fucking you came here for.”

Molly felt around for the corked oil and drizzled it over the cool glass. He couldn’t help but let out a choked moan when it breached his hole, his body hungrily taking it in with ease. He wanted to be good, he would be good, he wanted to please Caleb, he wanted Caleb to be proud of him…. Another godsdamned page turn. Wasn’t he enticing enough to at least be a _little_ distracting?!

“Good boy. _Komm hier._ ”

Molly felt Caleb’s fingers hook him under the chin and guide him forward and down, down, down, until the scent of Caleb’s arousal was filling his nose and driving him wild. His tail lashed around behind him. Molly was still kneeling, his ass in the air, his cheek resting against Caleb’s hip.

“Open up.”

Molly’s jaw dropped open, his mouth wet and ready and inviting. He shifted until he felt the length of Caleb’s erection brush against his nose, and gods, he wished he didn’t have this blindfold on right now so he could see it. Page turn.

“Go on, you know what to do with it.” Page turn.

Caleb’s cool, unaffected tone was starting to piss Molly off. He’d had lovers almost pass out from how well he sucked cock and Caleb was going to _read_ while he did it?! Molly wanted to break that impassive demeanor, to show Caleb that he couldn’t possibly ignore him.

“No sucking. Keep it in your mouth but you are not permitted to move your head unless you need to use a word.” Molly swallowed Caleb down immediately, noting with satisfaction the hiss of breath the wizard obviously tried to hide.

“I know your pitiful cock must be aching by now, _Kätzchen,_ especially with that toy inside you. I bet you could cum just from how good that feels, couldn’t you?”

“Mmhmm,” Molly hummed, again enjoying the slight tremble of Caleb’s thighs under his arms.

“If you mess my bed by cumming without my permission, your ass will be too sore to sit on for a week.”

Molly shuddered involuntarily, the plug pushing on his insides taunting him to just _try_ resisting it. This was the first time Caleb had ever threatened corporal punishment and a small part of Molly wanted to be a brat and push him, just to see what he’d do. A much larger part of him was enjoying the steady descent into warm, foggy subspace and wanted to do anything Caleb asked of him, to prove that he meant what he said and to get the reward. Even just thinking about that gorgeous smile looking down at him, telling him how good he was, sent relaxed arousal pouring through his veins like warm honey.

He resolved to be good, for now. He hadn’t heard that fucking book in a few minutes. As if reading his mind, Caleb resumed his reading, or at least the facade of it, turning pages at a rhythmic pace. Molly took a deep breath through his nose, took Caleb in as far as he could, and just rested his head against the human’s stomach. His arms wrapped around Caleb’s waist and his tail swished behind him. The more he focused on his breath, just let himself let go and float through the fog, the more his body relaxed. Even the plug became just a comfortable pressure inside him, and the weight of Caleb in his mouth soothing. All Molly’s senses were taken up by the human, his nose pressed into the soft nest of curls at the base of Caleb’s cock, filled with the scent of him. His mouth was full, his arms were settled comfortably around Caleb’s hips. The little shifts of Caleb’s legs and occasional hitches in his breath when Molly’s tongue touched him just right, Caleb’s hand occasionally reaching down to stroke Molly’s head, told him he was doing a good job. Molly was in heaven. Gradually, his need dimmed to a low flame instead of a bonfire.

He came to when he heard Caleb’s book snap shut, his tail immediately pepping up and flicking through the air.

“I am glad to see you are learning to follow instructions,” Caleb cooed, running his fingers through Molly’s locks. He guided Molly’s head up gently, pulling out of Molly’s mouth with an obscene wet sound.

“Maybe I should just take your sweet little mouth, hmm? You get off on it don’t you?”

“Yes,” Molly mumbled, his words sticky with the stiffness in his jaw.

“Yes what, Kitten?”

“Yes, I _love_ it. I love sucking you off, I love when you fuck my face, please put your cock down my throat-”

Caleb’s palm struck his cheek, not hard enough to really hurt, but Molly stopped his wanton begging.

“Hush your filthy mouth.”

Caleb ran his thumb over Molly’s bottom lip and Molly opened, but Caleb stroked his lips lightly and then pulled away.

“You choke on my cock so delightfully, _Kätzchen_ , but you have been quite obedient tonight and I think you have earned more, don’t you?”

“I-if you think I have. If that would please you.”

“Mmmm, that’s right. Good boy. I want to see how well you did opening yourself like I told you to. Turn around.”

Molly obeyed, excited, and bent over, still kneeling, presenting himself to Caleb. Caleb hummed in approval and ran his hands over Molly’s ass, squeezing the firm muscle.

“My slut makes such a pretty picture,” he purred. “Give me your hands.” Molly stretched his arms back, putting his chest and cheek flat against the mattress. He was squirming with arousal, his cock flushed and sensitive, and the plug shifted around inside him and sent pleasure radiating up his spine with every motion.

Caleb arranged Molly’s arms so they were behind his back, and Molly felt the soft silk rope start to wind around his forearms. A shudder went through him and he whined, his cock growing heavier between his legs. Caleb paused for a moment, but when Molly raised no objection, he continued. It took hardly a moment, but suddenly, with Caleb’s hands on his waist and his arms tied behind his back, Molly was well and truly stuck. He had no leverage to initiate any motion, and was essentially a rag doll in Caleb’s arms. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this relaxed. Dimly, it occurred to him that he might be drooling on the sheets.

Molly felt Caleb’s fingers probing around his entrance, the touch magnified by his lack of sight and movement. Two scarred fingertips pressed gently on his rim, allowing Caleb to grip the plug and pull it out, slowly. The sound that Molly made was almost unrecognizable to his own ears, a broken and needy keen. Empty, he was empty, and he wanted to be _full,_ he wanted _Caleb-_

“Look at how desperate you are,” Caleb murmured. “You want to get off on being used…it is a lucky thing you are so good at it, hmm?” He punctuated a question with a smack on Molly’s ass.

“Yes, yes,” Molly moaned.

“You were made for it, Kitten.”

With that, two of Caleb’s fingers pushed into Molly’s entrance and he made a choked sound, surprised and so, so hungry for more. He ground his hips back into Caleb’s hand and was stopped short by a warning hand around the back of his neck.

“You know better. If I have to tell you again, I will toss you out into the hallway and lock the door behind you.”

“I’m sorry, no, you’re right,” Molly pleaded. “I - I only get what you say I can have.”

“That’s exactly right,” Caleb cooed, sounding very pleased. “You are learning.” He crooked his fingers inside Molly and pressed down on his prostate, making Molly groan desperately and his whole body shake. Molly could practically _feel_ the smirk in Caleb’s voice.

“You did an excellent job opening yourself, _Kätzchen,_ but I cannot help but think you perhaps did a bit too much.” Stroking Molly’s walls with the two fingers inside, Caleb pressed a third against Molly’s rim, and Molly’s hole fluttered hungrily, ready to pull it in.

“I think you kept going even after you were open enough, because you are _so_ brazen-“ a tap on Molly’s prostate “- and _so_ disrespectful-“ another “-that you wanted to get off like this.”

“No, no, I didn’t, I promise,” Molly whimpered, though it was a lie. Caleb started working his oiled fingers in and out of Molly, tearing the air from Molly’s lungs and scrambling his brain.

“Show me then.”

“W-what?” Molly choked.

“Show me how much you _don’t_ want to ride my fingers until your spoiled little cock spills all over my sheets.”

Molly felt on a hair trigger already and Caleb’s punishing words were only driving him closer. Caleb’s free hand gripped his waist as the other picked up speed, three fingers thrusting in and out of Molly at a merciless pace. He was almost sobbing, gritting his teeth against the orgasm barreling towards him.

“Show me you can contain yourself,” Caleb demanded. Molly’s keens were getting louder, harder. Caleb pressed on his sweet spot, sending shockwaves of pleasure rolling through Molly and his whole body started to tense and he opened his mouth to tell Caleb to stop or he’d finish and his balls tightened up to his body and-

Caleb pulled out. The noise that tore from Molly’s throat was raw and pleading, and he gasped for breath, trying so hard to calm his trembling body.

“Very good,” Caleb praised, stroking Molly’s thighs. Molly heard the sound of Caleb slicking himself with the oil and his cock twitched, dark and sensitive and ready to release any second.

“This is all you need to do,” Caleb said quietly, his tone a little softer, his touch a little gentler. “Right here, right now, all you need to worry about is doing what I tell you. Nothing but that matters. Everything else, everything outside of that, is for me to worry about.”

Molly felt Caleb’s fingers tuck some hair behind his horn. He sighed, the last seed pearl of future fear dissolving in his chest. With that, Caleb’s hand drew back over Molly’s neck, down his spine, and grasped the knotted rope between Molly’s arms. Molly’s breath was still coming hard and ragged, his desire urgent and almost painful.

As soon as he felt Caleb pressing against his entrance, Molly’s brain was reduced to hot, pulsing need, nothing in his thoughts but how badly he needed Caleb inside him. He moaned, satisfaction rushing through him at the stuttering gasp Caleb let out - _did good, pleased him -_ and buried his face in the mattress to muffle his noises. Caleb slid into him easily, filling him up, gods, so much, so much, so good, fuck… Once Caleb’s oiled hand wrapped around his cock, Molly knew he was good as done, but tried to grit his teeth through ever more pleading groans to stave it off.

“Cum when you want, baby, you have been so good for me,” Caleb panted, jerking Molly off on pace with his thrusts. “Gods, you feel so good - ah! - fuck, gorgeous boy-“

Molly felt all his muscles tense up and his hole clench around Caleb, and pressed his face into the blanket to stifle the bruised, broken cry that forced its way out of him as his body locked up and he came, finally, after so much denial and teasing, his release streaking over the blankets. Woozy and hazy, Molly was kept upright by Caleb’s hold on his hips, and coming out of his own desperate, single-minded focus on orgasm, Molly could dimly appreciate the beautiful sounds coming out of his lover, throaty groans that let Molly know how much Caleb was enjoying him, and, he thought with a hint of pride, that he couldn’t maintain his facade of disinterest anymore. When Caleb fisted his free hand in the sheets and emptied into Molly with a gasping moan, Molly thought, barely coherent, that even if he was going to be the one walking around with cum drying on his thighs in the morning, he’d certainly won out, all things considered.

The instant Caleb’s orgasm subsided, he began untying Molly’s bonds, letting his arms free from their position behind his back. The muscles in his shoulders were sore, but he ignored it. Well worth it. Caleb was still catching his breath when he slid the blindfold up off Molly’s eyes. Molly didn’t think he’d ever seen so divine a sight. Caleb was panting, his blue eyes sparkling; his skin was flushed red under the freckles, and his hair was coming out of its tie, falling in waves around his face.

“I will get you some water.” Caleb didn’t wait for a response, moving quickly to the dresser for pajama pants and slipping out the door.

Molly was on the float, not a care in the world, relaxed, hazy, letting the current of his afterglow carry him away.

Before he knew it, Caleb was back. Molly drank down the water quicker than he thought he would - _must be thirsty_ \- and took another when Caleb offered to refill it from the pitcher. With a flick of the wrist, Caleb Prestidigitated them both clean, and laid down on his side next to where Molly was lying. Or more accurately, next to the puddle that was the tiefling formerly known as Molly. He stroked Molly’s back lightly, just letting his fingertips drag over Molly’s skin.

“You were so good, so, so good for me,” Caleb murmured.

“Holy fuck,” Molly slurred, eyes closed again.

“Good?”

“The best.” Molly purred, stretching out to expose more of himself for the affectionate touch Caleb was offering.

“Would you let me rub your shoulders a little? So they are not sore in the morning?”

“That would be lovely,” Molly mumbled. He heard Caleb shift and felt the pressure of the human sitting on the backs of his thighs. Molly sighed as Caleb drizzled a bit of oil on Molly’s shoulders and upper back. Slowly, but firmly, he began working on the muscles of Molly’s shoulders, stroking and rubbing anywhere that had been stretched by the restraints.

Molly barely had time to register how sweet the massage was as a gesture of care, before the dark curtain of blessed, dreamless sleep descended over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for the encouragement guys! The motivation definitely helps me to finish new chapters! Let me know what you think about this one! Their dynamic is starting to change a little bit... 🤔😏


	5. someday we'll both wake up for good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW just to be safe - there's a scene in here that's read in a book about a romance between a noble and his employee. In context, everyone is enjoying everything that's happening, but there's absolutely 0 negotiation or discussion of any kind like should happen in a healthy consensual encounter! If this is troubling for you, I would skip the blocks of italicized text, or stop at the paragraph that ends "Caleb smiled back" and restart at the one that starts with "Molly looked up at Caleb".
> 
> EDIT: Another TW for brief PTSD / flashbacks! Thank you to a commenter for pointing out that I forgot this and I'm sorry to anyone who was caught off guard! If you want to skip this, stop at the paragraph that begins "Fairleigh gave two light strikes" and come back in at the one that starts “Nein, I’m okay, thank you.”
> 
> With that out of the way, enjoy 10.5k of filth. I have no excuses.

Consciousness seeped into Molly like the tide slowly sinking into the shoreline. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep. Before he opened his eyes, he became aware of a weight, a presence, nearby, someone - in bed with him? Gradually, his brain started working again, furnishing him with the visceral memories of last night. Caleb had been taking care of him and then - nothing. Molly lifted his head and looked around sleepily.

Caleb was lying in bed next to him, on his stomach, back rising and falling steadily. He was wearing his pajama pants, but no shirt, and Molly found himself staring at the constellations of freckles sprinkled over Caleb’s pale skin. Obviously Molly had seen Caleb sleep before, but never so close. He felt like a bit of a voyeur but couldn’t take his eyes off the human’s face, calm and peaceful, a new sight for Molly. Caleb’s face was a little smushed into the pillow that he had his arms around. _Pretty cute._ Molly squeezed his eyes shut and banished the thought.

What was he doing here? How had he just passed out so quickly last night? He’d obviously overstayed his welcome; this was never part of the deal. A small voice in his head reminded him that if Caleb minded, he’d have kicked him out, but another said that Caleb was too nice and wouldn’t have. Either way, Molly’s “be the first to leave, absence makes the heart grow fonder” policy had gone out the window.

Molly stealthily attempted to extract himself from the sheets without waking Caleb - how had he gotten under the sheets? - and felt tension in his tail that stopped him. Cursing silently, Molly looked back and saw that his tail was wrapped around Caleb’s thigh. He grimaced with embarrassment and slowly, ever so slowly, disentangled his tail from Caleb’s limbs. Scanning the floor, Molly quickly found his clothes, slipped into them, and tiptoed out the door.

If he’d looked back, he might have noticed Caleb, still half-asleep, raise his head and watch him as he snuck out.

Molly opened the door to the library as quietly as possible, an alibi already at hand if anyone was downstairs, but he didn’t run into any of the rest of the Nein. Glancing out the kitchen window, he could see a few lonely souls down in the streets, starting to make their way to work. He probably didn’t have long before the early risers like Caduceus and Yasha began to stir, so he hurried upstairs as quietly as he could and slipped into his room. It felt…cold. Molly scoffed at himself and climbed into bed, wrapping the blankets around him. Sleep wasn’t far away, given how deprived he was, and he couldn’t worry about anything anymore once that veil of inky blackness dropped over him again.

~~~

When Molly awoke for the second time, late in the morning, a deep sense of unease rolled through him. Was it a big deal, that he had fallen asleep last night? He couldn’t imagine it being the end of the world, but he could imagine Caleb getting skittish. Hell, maybe _he_ was getting skittish. Molly couldn’t remember the last time he’d fallen asleep in a lover’s bed; even when he’d been bone tired, he’d dragged himself back to his own space dutifully each time.

 _Last night was different_ , he told himself. _You were beyond exhausted. You fell asleep the first second you felt relaxed enough to._

Somehow, he didn’t feel better. He was anxious about seeing Caleb again today, as if last night might have made Caleb uncomfortable or given him the impression that Molly was reading too much into things. He needed a bit of reassurance that everything was alright. Fortunately, Caleb came looking for him midday, when Molly was in his room, folding laundry.

“Ah, Mollymauk, do you have a moment?” Caleb asked softly, appearing from around the doorway.

“For you, dear, always,” Molly replied smoothly, in a tone that he hoped covered over his deep anxiety. The corner of Caleb’s mouth quirked up in a smile, but he came in and shut the door behind him.

“I just wanted to check on you.” Molly furrowed his brow.

“Check on me?” He repeated, regretting the suspicious tone that crept into his voice. Caleb flushed a little.

“I wanted to be sure you are alright, I did not, um, get to spend as much time…looking after you, last night, as I might have.”

“Oh, I’m great. I’m sorry about that, by the way.” Molly gave a sheepish chuckle that was genuine, but far more superficial than he felt. “I was just dead tired.”

“Oh, ja, I mean, you do not have to apologize, it really is alright.”

“Still, I feel bad taking up your space, just a fluke, but I’m sure it won’t happen in the future.” Caleb was quiet for a moment.

“Oh. Um, ja, okay. Well, I - okay, I am glad you are feeling alright. But- I mean, I really did not mind.” Molly’s pulse hammered in his ears. “I just - since you left early in the morning, I was worried perhaps you thought I was…upset somehow.”

“It really wasn’t that,” Molly lied. That was basically exactly what he had thought. He didn’t elaborate, and thought - imagined, more likely - a small expression of discomfort flicker over Caleb’s face.

“Ja, of course, however you, um, feel most comfortable.” Caleb’s cheeks were bright red. “I just wanted to check on you, make sure you were not…requiring any more care, or thinking I was unhappy with you.”

“Thanks for checking in on me,” Molly said softly, hoping his voice didn’t belie how much he meant it.

“Of course.” _Gods, that smile is so cute._ “I also wanted to let you know, I am planning to do some shopping in a bit, if you need anything, or you could come? If you want?”

“I wouldn’t mind tagging along,” Molly replied, forcing casualness into his tone. When Caleb left, Molly let himself smile at the warm affection bubbling away in his chest.

Molly was a little ashamed of himself, an hour later, when he went downstairs to meet Caleb and was disappointed to see that Yasha and Jester were coming along. _You’re being stupid. This is errands, not a date. That’s not the kind of thing you’re doing here._

Still, he enjoyed himself, window shopping for clothes with Jester, stocking up on inks for his art, and buying some hot cider and squash cakes for the little group. That Molly knew the little pumpkin cakes were one of Caleb’s favorite street foods in Rosohna was pure coincidence. Jester sidled up to him on their way out of the arcane shop and slipped her arm into his.

“Soooo, which bookstore does that hot guy work in?” She asked in a conspiratorial whisper. “Should we stop in?” Molly had hoped that bit of bullshitting wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass.

“I told you, Jes, I can’t give you all my secrets, or you’ll steal him away from me,” he teased. She narrowed her eyes at him with a smile.

“I’ll bet I can guess. Hey guys!” She called ahead to Yasha and Caleb, who stopped and looked back at her. “Let’s go to the smut shop!”

Molly’s brain was whirring the whole way there, though Jester was trying to tell him a story and he felt bad that he wasn’t paying attention. What was the play here with this fake bookstore guy? Should he continue being aloof about it or would that just make Jester pester him more? Maybe he should tell her they went out again and then he decided not to see him again. He was a pretty convenient alibi, though, for any marks that might show up on him… Maybe if the shopkeep at this place looked right - Molly truly couldn’t remember who ran the store - he could tell Jester it was him and if she was weird about it, well who cares? He wouldn’t be the first shopkeeper to think Jester was an odd duck.

Before he knew it, they were at the shop simply called, “Rylderin’s”. It wasn’t a seedy establishment, actually quite nice, though Molly thought it sort of silly that people apparently needed the store to scream “high class” in order for them to be comfortable enough to shop for things they were going to stick in their various orifices.

Yasha shifted around, seemingly unsure where to put her eyes. Jester saved the day and took Yasha’s hand.

“C’mon, did you know they have books here with just girls in them?”

“Really?” Yasha was blushing but smiled and Molly smiled back at her as Jester led her to one of the bookshelves. Caleb was already browsing the stacks, having made a beeline for the books as soon as they entered.

Just then, a young man, drow, came out from a curtain behind the counter. He looked around and spotted Molly, the only member of the foursome not occupied.

“Ah! Hello! Welcome to Rylderin’s. Can I help you find anything?”

The guy was actually pretty cute, Molly realized. Maybe he could pass him off as his date from the other night. His hair was long and soft looking, wrapped up in a bun on top of his head, and he did have a very nice smile. Molly sauntered up to the counter and saw Jester give an excited thumbs up from the shelf where she was showing Yasha the lesbian books.

“I don’t think at the moment, thank you though, unless you’ve got any new fiction in that you’re looking to show off.”

Rylderin, presumably, gave another winning smile and looked Molly up and down with a cocked eyebrow.

“Well, I would hate to presume your tastes, but I’m sure I could help you find something.” _This guy really knows how to turn on the charm._ Molly could tell when he was being flirted with.

“I would certainly love a recommendation. My tastes are…quite varied.” He let his eyes drag over the drow in return. The white top Rylderin was wearing had a square neck and a yellow dotted pattern over it - it was actually quite flattering, Molly thought, and the sea blue leggings he had on didn’t hurt either. He had great legs… Molly tamped down his lustful thoughts and let the other man lead him to a set of shelves near where Caleb was browsing.

“Well, I can give you some suggestions, and you tell me what sounds good to you, alright?”

“That sounds perfect,” Molly purred with a grin. Rylderin pulled a deep purple bound book off the shelf.

“Let’s see…this one is new, it’s called _Paradise Bound._ It’s actually an Empire book, and it’s a bit on the, ah, darker side. The main characters are an archmage with a drinking problem and a turncoat. They’re both women, is that something that interests you?” Molly wrinkled his nose but took the book and lifted it to show it to Yasha.

“Doesn’t quite do it for me. What else have you got?”

“Of course, understandable! _Desire Play_ is a wonderful book, I actually just finished it myself.” Rylderin chose a brown leather book with olive green trim. “It’s about a man, a tiefling, actually, an adventurer, who hires a female pit fighter to go on a mission with him and they start an affair. It seems perhaps you’ve seen your fair share of adventure yourself, hmm?” Rylderin’s eyes drifted to the scars peeking out from the low neck of Molly’s shirt.

“Ah, seen a few things,” Molly said casually, leaning against the bookshelf. “Had a few close calls. Find me a good book and I’ll owe you a story about the time I helped save a little girl from a devil toad.” Molly was focused on Rylderin, but he was also facing Caleb, and the human’s attention on the books noticeably slowed as he unsubtly eavesdropped on the conversation.

“Hmm, I would very much like to hear _that_ story, so I think I ought to try very hard to find you something you’ll like.” Molly saw Caleb roll his eyes while he leafed through a book.

“I think you ought to,” Molly replied, giving Rylderin a wink. Rylderin smiled and gestured to another set of shelves.

“Let’s see then, I think I might have something over _here_ you would enjoy.” The elf put his hand on the small of Molly’s back to (unnecessarily) guide him in the right direction. Molly let it happen, enjoying the flirtation.

“This one is quite interesting. It’s called _Something Domestic_ \- I’m not quite sold on the title, but I’m in the middle of it now - the main characters are a firbolg blacksmith and a human noble, brought together by mutual obsession with a mysterious artifact. It’s very good so far, lots of emotions and drama about should they or shouldn’t they, but they just keep getting drawn to one another…I’m really enjoying it.”

“Men?”

“Yes, yes, both men.”

“The sex?”

“Quite…interesting.” Rylderin gave a wicked smile that Molly interpreted to mean it’d be right up his alley.

“Well, you’ve sold me. I’ll try it.”

“Excellent, I will hold it for you at the front and if you should need any other recommendations, I am happy to help. I can give some suggestions about our other offerings too.”

Rylderin guided Molly out of the narrow set of shelves, hand again on Molly’s lower back. As they passed the section where Caleb was browsing, Molly saw his bright blue eyes flicker to Rylderin’s face, then his hand on Molly’s back, with a raised eyebrow.

It wasn’t long before the others found their purchases, Jester babbling happily about the halfling / goliath romance book she was buying for Nott, and the book she bought for herself about two men, a dwarf and an elf, who fall in love in a comedy of errors after renting an apartment together. Yasha clutched her book and smiled shyly, not saying anything but polite “thank yous” to Rylderin as he wrapped her purchase. Caleb paid for his two books in grim silence.

“And of course, I’m counting on this recommendation,” Rylderin teased, pulling Molly’s book out from under the counter, already wrapped in brown paper. “Two gold’ll do it.”

Before Molly could reach for his coin purse, Caleb slid two gold across the counter.

“I will pay for it.”

“Oh, you don’t have to-“

“Nein, my treat.”

“I certainly won’t fight you about it. Thank you, Caleb.” Rylderin looked between the two men in front of him.

“Well, you certainly have a very generous…friend, Mister Molly.”

“Yes, I do,” Molly replied. _Truly, you don’t know how generous…_ Rylderin swept the gold pieces into the register box and slid the book across the counter, not taking his hand off it. Molly reached for it and Rylderin gave his hand a pat.

“Now remember, you’ll have to come back and tell me if you enjoyed the book, so I can take you for a drink and hear that story.” Molly felt his cheeks warm and he smiled.

“I certainly will. Thank you for the help.”

The four departed the shop with their new books in tow. Jester clung to Molly’s side excitedly.

“Oooh, Molly, was that him?”

“Sure is,” Molly lied, a little discomfort twisting in his stomach.

He’s so _cute_ oh my gosh, just like you said, isn’t he Yasha?!” Yasha shrugged.

“I don’t know, I guess. I’m not, um, very good at identifying attractive men.”

“He’s not that attractive,” Caleb mumbled, picking at his sleeve as they walked.

Molly raised an eyebrow. _What’s gotten into him?_ Surely Caleb wasn’t _jealous._ He and Molly had agreed that both of them were free to pursue other things. Molly tried to imagine how he would feel watching Caleb flirt with someone, if he might have a little reactionary jealousy, and he honestly couldn’t picture it. Molly flirted with people practically just for something to do - if an attractive stranger tried making conversation with Caleb, the panic was obvious on his face.

“Well, I thought he was _very_ handsome, Molly. You should invite him over for dinner sometime. Yasha! Tell me about your book!” Jester skipped ahead a little and put her arm around Yasha’s waist, though it was about chest height for the little tiefling. Caleb looked to be deep in thought until Molly elbowed him, and he turned to look at Molly like he had forgotten he was there.

“So? What about you, what’d you find? Anything I’d like?”

“Ja, I think so. I actually bought one for myself and another I thought you might like to…share.”

“Did you now?” Molly asked in a hushed tone, lacing as much seduction into the question as he dared with Jester six feet in front of them.

“I did. Perhaps you might like to come by later and take a look at it?”

Two nights in a row? That had never happened before. But maybe it could, if Molly initiated more…it occurred to him that Caleb was always the one suggesting their nights together. Though Molly had expressed some initiative by purchasing the ropes and leaving them in Caleb’s room, he’d never actually tried to start anything himself. Maybe if he did-

“Um, but, no problem, if you are…busy, or something.” Molly realized he hadn’t responded to Caleb’s offer.

“Oh, no, I’m sorry, I just got stuck thinking about something - um, yes, that sounds good.” _You sound like you’re responding to someone asking if you want tea._ Molly kicked himself mentally. Caleb gave him a smile and Molly felt the other man’s touch graze over the small of his back, just for a second, while the other two still had their backs turned.

At dinner, Molly found his thoughts wandering as the murmurs of conversation continued around him. Should he pursue this little flirtation with Rylderin? The fact that he was hesitating gave Molly pause. He did think the drow was cute and it wouldn’t hurt to just get a drink. Plus, it wasn’t like he and Caleb were anything exclusive. Yet, when he thought about the prospect of going to bed with someone else, his stomach turned.

To Molly’s mind, that was exactly the reason he should take the elf up on it. _If you’re getting in so deep with this thing with Caleb that you don’t want to have a beer with another guy, you need to excise that as soon as possible._ He also wasn’t sure whether he would even think twice about it if Caleb hadn’t been acting so weird at the shop. _If he’s jealous, that’s his problem, not yours_. Molly knew that was true, but still, a small part of him ached at the idea of doing something that he knew would hurt Caleb's feelings, even if he wasn’t technically doing anything wrong. _Gods above, he’s_ fine!Molly was reading too much into things. Possibly Caleb’s mind had been on something else entirely.

A few hours after dinner, when most of the Nein had drifted off to their rooms, Molly took his new book, grabbed a bottle of wine and two glasses from the kitchen, and snuck off to Caleb’s room. Unlike the last few times Molly had been here, Caleb was in bed already, clothed, sitting up against the headboard reading. He looked up when Molly came in and smiled. He looked just delicious by candlelight; the golden glow made his copper hair shine and brought out the freckles in his face. If Molly didn’t know Caleb needed the light to read by, he’d have accused him of playing unfair.

“Good evening, Mollymauk.”

“Getting started without me, darling?” Molly teased, pouring them both generous glasses.

“Never.” Caleb took the proffered glass, his long, delicate fingers curling around the stem. He made room for Molly on the bed and as Molly made himself comfortable, he found himself wondering idly which side Caleb favored when he slept. He remembered how lovely Caleb had looked just this morning, peaceful- Molly shook his head slightly to clear the image.

He was…a little unclear about what was happening here. Had Caleb actually just invited him here to read together? That seemed weird. But…also kind of nice. Molly would actually enjoy an evening of just enjoying one another’s quiet company, reading and polishing off a bottle of wine.

“Would you prefer to read your book or the one I bought you?” Caleb asked.

“Well technically they’re both the ones you bought me.” Caleb chuckled.

“Ja, that is true.”

“Thank you for that, by the way. That was nice of you.”

“I only get the urge to do a good deed once a year, so you just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” Molly couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“I think you’re much nicer than you give yourself credit for, Mister Caleb, but I’ll take it. As much as I appreciate this book, I would be quite curious to see what you chose for me.” Caleb reached over to the nightstand and retrieved it for Molly.

“Why don’t you let me know when you get to the good parts, ja, _Kätzchen_?” Caleb asked. Molly felt a shiver go down his spine at the pet name. He nodded and opened the book eagerly, curious to find out what Caleb had in mind.

The book was actually quite tantalizing, a story about a fire genasi noble and his human scribe who seemed to butt heads at every opportunity. Of course, Molly had read enough of these books to know that what might start out as hate would turn to fucking and hatefucking would turn to lovemaking. It was predictable as the Rosohna sky but somehow comforting because of it. The power dynamic between the two only added to the heat in their interactions, building slowly through the first few chapters.

Molly realized, laughably, as he sat there reading, that the sound of Caleb turning pages was becoming something of an aphrodisiac to him. After so many trysts where the human had involved his books, Molly’s body had an involuntary response. It wasn’t extreme, but he could feel the slight stirrings of desire rising in his belly.

By the time he arrived at the first sex scene, Molly had nearly forgotten what he was actually here for. He was so relaxed, from the warmth of the bed, Caleb’s presence and the wine, that he almost didn’t want to have sex, in favor of spending the rest of the evening enjoying this oddly domestic activity. _Almost_.

“You, uh, wanted me to tell you when I got to the first smutty part, right?” Caleb looked over, his eyes flashing in the way that Molly had come to recognize as meaning he was in for an _evening_.

“Ja, I did. You are enjoying it so far?”

“I am, actually.”

Caleb put his glass on the nightstand and leaned in to kiss Molly, who purred happily and kissed back, relishing the taste of wine on his lover’s lips. Caleb’s hand came up to cup the back of Molly’s head, fingers sliding up into Molly’s hair, holding him closer. Molly broke only to pass his own wine to the nightstand and then returned with gusto, reclining on his side and pulling Caleb in to keep kissing him. _There’s an awful lot of kissing in these hookups._ Molly certainly didn’t mind, Caleb was an excellent kisser and it primed him to slip into his submissive space, but it did strike Molly as funny. Normally, when he slept with someone, there was very little if any kissing, not on the mouth at least. He was rather enjoying the change of pace.

Hands wandered and their kisses gradually became more heated, until Caleb was pulling at the hem of Molly’s shirt. He brushed over one of Molly’s nipples, certainly on purpose, as he lifted it up over Molly’s head, making Molly suck in a breath and smile against his lips.

“I would like to try something different tonight, _Kätzchen_.” Molly shivered and rolled over onto his back, now divested of his shirt. He was half-hard just from their kissing and was sure it showed.

“I’m all yours,” Molly breathed. Caleb smiled down at him, drawing his fingers lightly over Molly’s bare torso.

“My Kitten is always so curious about trying new things.” Molly grinned and stretched out, showing off as much as he could. “And it seems you are in a bit of a playful mood tonight.” Caleb pinched Molly mischievously under the ribs, making Molly giggle.

“Take off your clothes. Sit at the end of the bed, facing me. Close your eyes.”

“Aren’t you going to undress?”

“Perhaps later.” Molly narrowed his eyes at Caleb, trying to figure out what he was planning. Caleb must have interpreted his expression as hesitation, because he added, “Remember you can always use your words.”

“I want to do what you want me to do,” Molly replied, his tail lashing around his legs as he stood to disrobe.

“Facing me.” Molly paused for a second - Caleb had never given this particular order before - but turned around and made brazen eye contact as he slowly removed his belt and placed it aside, then unlaced his pants and teased his fingers under the waistband a little before pulling them off completely. Caleb’s attention flickered once or twice to Molly’s obvious erection, but mostly stayed fixed on Molly’s face.

“Shameless,” Caleb tutted, turning to his nightstand. Molly grinned and settled into his now familiar kneeling position, this time near the foot of the bed.

“You asked a showman to put on a show… You didn’t seem to mind, darling.” Caleb looked up at him, eyes sharp.

“Watch your tongue, or you will not finish tonight.”

Molly clamped his mouth shut and then, after a moment, closed his eyes, as he remembered he’d been told. It was a fight to keep his eyes shut, as he heard Caleb comb through the drawers, obviously looking for something - or several things, Molly thought, as he felt a few objects get placed near him. He was desperately curious as to what they were, his mind already sinking into that recognizable haze, but he was determined to show that he could be good. When Caleb told him to control himself, especially when it was a way of testing him, he wanted to show that he could pass with flying colors. When Molly was disobedient, it was because he chose to be.

“Open your eyes.” Molly did as he was told and immediately his jaw dropped. The human was reclining at the other end of the bed from Molly with a smirk, his unbuttoned shirt only adding to the sense of “playing unfair” Molly had upon walking in.

“Holy _shit_ , Caleb.”

Spread in front of Molly was a selection of items, some of which he’d never imagined Caleb owned, some of which he’d never seen, all of which he wanted to try. There was a leather sleeve with arcane runes etched into it that he was _very_ curious about; a thick glass dildo that had swirls of dark blue suspended inside; an elegant glass toy that looked like a series of beads, ascending in size, with more runes engraved on them; the plug he’d used last night; a metal cock ring; a small tin, which he certainly wanted to know the contents of; several vials of oil; another, slightly larger plug that was curved in a way that made Molly’s cock twitch; and finally, a metal cock ring with a leather band attached that Molly suspected was supposed to go around his balls.

“Did you…?”

“Some I already had. And I did a little shopping of my own after you bought that rope.” Caleb picked up the book next to him. “Now, I feel terrible about interrupting your reading just when you got to the good parts, so I will read to you. Tell me, _Kätzchen_ , when you read a book like this, what do you usually do when you reach the smutty bits?” Molly raised a quizzical eyebrow.

“….Get myself off? I guess?” Caleb nodded, like Molly was a student he was leading to the correct answer.

“Ja, I know you do. And I would not dare rob you of that.” Heat coiled in Molly’s belly.

“You want me to…?”

“Unless you are objecting, in which case, I have many other things we could do.” Molly shook his head vigorously.

“No, no, not objecting at all,” he breathed. “That sounds amazing, I was just…surprised. So, um, all this?”

“You can use or not use whatever you desire. I want to watch you take your pleasure however you like.”

Molly bit his lip, smiling, as the possibilities of this buffet of sexual options started whirring through his head. Caleb grinned back and leaned forward on all fours, taking Molly’s chin in his hand and pulling him in for a kiss.

“I want to watch you take everything you want,” Caleb whispered, running a thumb over Molly’s bottom lip. Molly whimpered, his cheeks hot and heart pumping. He’d actually never done this in front of a lover before, though he and Caleb had discussed it. The exhibitionist in Molly was thrilled, but another, small part of him was shy about displaying this part of himself to Caleb. That feeling was almost wholly banished when he saw the burning lust in the human’s gaze, the intensity of Caleb’s want for him plainly displayed on his face. Caleb settled back into his half-reclined position at the head of the bed, and took the book in his hand.

“Some of those have some nice tricks they can do,” Caleb mentioned casually, glancing up at Molly as he found his place. “I can tell you if you like, or let you find out for yourself.” Molly thought about it for a second.

“I’ll be surprised,” he replied with a toothy grin. Caleb smiled back.

“Ja, alright then. Let’s see, where were we? Ah…

_‘What is it you take me for, Leone? I have no patience or use for a disobedient, impetuous little boy in my service.’ Duke Fairleigh took Leone by the collar and dragged him over to his own desk. Fairleigh pushed Leone down roughly and pressed his cheek into the wood, causing his long black hair to fall down around his face._

_‘Don’t move a muscle,’ Fairleigh ordered, marching over to an armoire across the room. Leone couldn’t help but look, craning his neck from his position to catch a glimpse of what Fairleigh was retrieving. His curiosity was sated soon enough when Fairleigh strode back over to the desk with a bamboo cane in hand. Leone’s cock immediately began to swell between his legs; had Fairleigh known this was just the thing to get him to shut his bratty mouth? Or had he simply been able to read Leone well enough to tell?”_

Molly, shyly, started dancing his fingers lightly over his thighs and hips, just getting used to the touch there, the way it felt to be watched like this. Caleb’s reading hardly slowed, but his eyes flickered to Molly every chance he got.

 _“Spread your whorish legs.”_ Caleb looked up at Molly cautiously, probably remembering the incident a few weeks ago when Molly had called his safeword in response to similar language. Molly gave a slight nod, encouraging, and Caleb turned back to the book. It wasn’t being directed against him, and so it was alright.

 _“Fairleigh unceremoniously yanked Leone’s pants down around his ankles.”_ Molly shivered at the thought of being so exposed like that, and he took his cock in hand, touching noncommittally.

_“Do you know what this is?’ Fairleigh demanded. ‘And what I plan to do with it?’_

_‘No,’ Leone sniped, putting on a face of being much more rebellious than he really felt in this moment. In fact, he felt like spreading his legs wider for Duke Fairleigh - but he pushed that thought down and tried to forget it._

_‘Of course you don’t,’ the duke replied. ‘Nobody’s ever disciplined you before, have they, pretty boy?’”_

Molly was starting to get a little more worked up. He uncorked one of the vials of oil and slicked his hand, stroking slowly. Caleb’s gaze on him was intoxicating. He took in every detail like Molly was a work of art, like Molly _masturbating_ was a work of art. It was a heady and remarkably powerful feeling juxtaposed with the intense desire to please that was laced through his submissive haze. He rolled his hips a little with the motion, watching Caleb’s eyes picking up every movement.

_“The duke walked around the table slowly, and anticipation built in Leone’s chest. The brown and blue robes of his station came into view first, and then one red hand lay flat on the table next to Leone’s face. It pulled his chin up roughly and suddenly Leone was staring into Fairleigh’s dark, lust drunk eyes._

_‘You are my scribe, not my minister. You do not get to decide what is written down, your only job is to do exactly as I tell you. Not to think, not to choose, just to obey. Understand me, boy?’_

_Leone wanted to whimper but twisted his face into a sneer instead._

_‘You’ll have to make me.’”_

Molly hummed in arousal at those words, a thrill coursing through him as he remembered making that sentence with his own lips, once, in a dark, dusty circus tent. He thumbed over the head of his cock, whining at the pleasure of it, and started eyeing the array of choices in front of him. The leather sleeve caught his eye from the beginning and Molly picked it up, oiled it, and fit it over his cock, preparing for….something to happen, given the arcane runes engraved on the exterior. Nothing. He looked up at Caleb, whose expression was impenetrable as ever as he continued reading.

_“I intend to,’ Fairleigh snarled. Leone heard the duke stride behind him and clamped his mouth shut to keep in a hiss of surprise that almost escaped when he felt the other man’s hand slap down on his ass. His manhood was fully hard by now, and he hoped Fairleigh wouldn’t notice, but was sure he eventually would._

_The slaps were starting to burn, in a way that made Leone suspect, through his lustful haze, the duke was heating his palm to add more pain to the strikes. Leone was somewhat surprised, stretching his pale neck as much as he dared to try to look at Fairleigh, when the spanks stopped abruptly. Was that it? Did the duke really think he was going to beat Leone into submission with that display?”_

Molly was letting out little whimpers and whines, stroking himself faster with the sleeve. The sensation of being touched by something other than his own hand was exciting, and he was able to grip it as tightly as he wanted around himself. Caleb was hard too, Molly could see with satisfaction, and he felt a little release of precum wet his tip, seeing how much Caleb was enjoying watching him. Molly let his other hand tease over his torso, his hips and thighs, relishing in showing off for his lover.

_“At the first strike of the cane, Leone couldn’t hold his noises in anymore, grunting and groaning through clenched teeth as the sensation that began as a white hot line of pain evolved into a deep, raw, bruise under the skin, tingling near his hole, and the warmth and submission radiating up, up, up through his tailbone into his spine. Everything was silent for another second or two, and then - whap! Fairleigh landed another strike on Leone’s ass, on the human’s already blushing pale skin from the light spanking he’d given a few minutes ago. He pressed the cane against the skin, letting the bruised sensation sink in, and then lifted it up, and struck again.”_

Molly moaned, his first real full moan that night, as he thumbed the head of his cock on every stroke, his hips rolling and thrusting forward into his hand. He could feel the flush in his cheeks and neck, and his heart tried to leap out of his chest every time Caleb’s eyes went back to him, drinking in the sight of Molly pleasuring himself.

Turning back to the book, Caleb lifted a hand and made a gesture Molly didn’t recognize; the runes etched on the sides of the sleeve lit with an amber glow and the whole piece began to _vibrate_ , still wrapped around Molly’s cock. The tsunami of sensation was overwhelming, and Molly choked, falling forward onto his hands and knees as he simply held the sleeve on him, unable to even process moving yet.

Caleb’s eyes were _devouring_ him, and Molly saw through his scrambled fog the wizard palm himself briefly, just to take the edge off. It seemed to be difficult for Caleb to tear his eyes away from Molly and return to the book; he resolved to make it near impossible the next time Caleb looked back at him. As soon as he started moving his hand, the vibrations traveled right up his spine and radiated through his entire torso, and Molly was reduced to a panting, quivering mess.

_“Fairleigh gave two light strikes in quick succession and Leone choked back a cry of pain, his cock releasing drops of precum on the floor. The duke held the reed against Leone’s red welt and slowly, agonizingly slowly, dragged the tip of the cane over angry, sensitive skin. Leone bit his wrist to keep from…to keep from…sobbing.”_

Molly looked up at Caleb, hoping the stumble was due to his attention on Molly, but the human seemed to be staring at something in the middle distance, just for a second, and then squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing distractedly at his forearm. Molly felt an iron ball of fear drop into his stomach and froze, yanking the sleeve off and leaning forward to touch Caleb’s knee.

“Caleb? Are you alright?” He asked softly. Caleb’s gaze turned back to him and his expression softened.

“Ja, I’m sorry, I - I’m fine. I did not mean to, ah, interrupt the reading.” Molly shook his head.

“Fuck the reading, are _you_ alright?” A lot of conflicting emotions were rolling through Molly with that question. One part of him, ridiculously, was embarrassed, because he was doing _this_ and Caleb wasn’t into it; another part scared that they had accidentally bumped up against one of the deep bruises that lay under Caleb’s skin; another worried that he was either overreacting or overstepping by asking again. Caleb opened his mouth to speak and Molly held up a hand.

“No, I’m sorry, you said you were fine. I believe you. If…unless you need to call a pause?”

“Nein, I’m okay, thank you.” Caleb waved his hand again and the sleeve stopped its movement; Molly had entirely forgotten it lying there, humming around nothing. He reached forward and pulled Molly in for a few long kisses, hands roving, trying to guide them both back into the mood. Molly tried to push the worry out of his mind and focus on the sensation of Caleb’s mouth on his, his hands in Molly’s hair, touching Molly all over.

“I am so enjoying watching you stroke yourself for me,” Caleb purred, dragging his nails down Molly’s spine. “ _Mein Kätzchen,_ so turned on and dripping from just a little smut.”

It wasn’t the smut, it was Caleb _watching_ him, the intense eroticism of showing off, and Molly was sure he knew it.

“I think I would like you to open yourself for me,” Caleb murmured, mouthing at Molly’s neck. “Just how you do when you are alone, dreaming about riding my cock, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, yes, please,” Molly breathed. “Gods….” He scrambled back to the end of the bed, noting with satisfaction that Caleb was pressing on himself again, relieving the pressure in his trousers. “You know, I can take care of that for you.” Molly wiggled his eyebrows and stretched out, ass in the air. Caleb narrowed his eyes, fully back in the roles they occupied in this space.

“If I wanted you to do that, it would be in your mouth already.” Molly shivered with delight.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good boy.” Molly’s tail thumped on the bed next to him.

“How do you want me?”

“However you usually do it. I want to know what my Kitten looks like when he’s upstairs all alone thinking about getting used.”

Molly grinned and lay back, parallel to the headboard, feet flat on the mattress. Caleb slid a pillow under Molly’s hips and leaned back with a smile, chin in his hand, to watch. Molly slicked his half-hard cock again and slipped the metal ring over it, sighing happily at the tingling that spread warm through his pelvis. He propped himself up on one elbow and opened the mystery tin, which turned out to be filled with a chartreuse balm that smelled like peppermint and herbs.

“What is this?” Caleb smiled

“Do you want me to tell you or do you just want to put it on and see?” Molly thought for a second.

“Will it hurt?”

“Nein.”

“You’ll have to show me what to do with it,” Molly teased. Caleb leaned forward and kissed Molly, taking the tin out of his hand. He applied some of the balm to his fingers and wrapped them around Molly’s swelling cock, stroking slowly. Molly gasped and writhed - everywhere Caleb touched him felt _warm_ , and the tingling sensation that had been tickling over his skin was amplified tenfold. He was so much more sensitive to Caleb’s touch, each stroke feeling like he was almost ready to burst. The tension between the cock ring, pulling him back from the edge, and the effect of the balm, pushing him towards it, was unbearable and delicious and overwhelming and Molly never wanted it to stop. He moaned at the loss of Caleb’s hand when the human sat back at the head of the bed, his hips thrusting up in search of more friction.

“Well, go on, what are you waiting for?”

Molly closed his eyes, arousal dancing over his skin knowing Caleb was watching him intently. He tried to just let go and let Caleb into something so astoundingly intimate - a thought which felt ridiculous, given that Caleb had been balls deep in him in quite a few different ways by now, but there it was. He was acutely conscious that the only noise in the room was his heavy breathing, and Caleb’s, and the sound of slick skin on skin as he took his cock in hand again.

The sensation was exquisite, the push and pull of the hypersensitizing balm combined with the delaying effect of the ring, and any self-consciousness Molly had went right out the window. He stroked himself, trying not to barrel straight to his orgasm, and didn’t hold back the little whimpers and gasps Caleb liked so much.

“You look stunning like this, Kitten,” Caleb breathed. “Let me think…what does _mein Kätzchen_ think about when he does this to himself? I wonder if I can guess.”

Molly moaned, removing his hand from his cock only to slick up the plug and press it against his relaxed and waiting hole. He loved it when Caleb talked dirty, it tantalized him like nothing else, being so far removed from the human’s normal demeanor.

“Good boy, following my directions. Now…when you touch yourself, do you think about getting eaten out, like I did for you the first time I had you in my bed?”

“Yes,” Molly whimpered, circling his loose rim.

“Is that all it takes to get you off, _Kätzchen_? Just imagining having your hole played with and you cum all over yourself?” Molly whined in answer as his body slowly pulled the plug inside, stretching his walls and holding him open but not filling him the way he wanted.

“Make sure you save your orgasm for me,” Caleb warned, his voice stern. “I do not want you messing my sheets unless I’m inside you.” Molly sucked in a breath and moaned happily; he hadn’t known whether he would get fucked tonight and he _needed_ Caleb’s cock in him, gods, pressing on all the right spots- Suddenly, pressure and pain radiated up through his core, and he let out a choked gasp. Caleb’s foot was pressing lightly against Molly’s balls, not enough to truly hurt, but enough to snap him out of his lustful reverie.

“I gave you an order.”

“Yes, yes sir, I heard you,” Molly groaned. “I won’t finish, I promise.” Caleb drew his foot back and folded his legs back under him.

“Good. I wonder what else you think about…” Caleb’s voice was light and teasing. The delightful pressure of the plug inside Molly was like a mockery of what he really wanted. “Maybe you would like to be tormented in other ways. Perhaps I should tie you up and make you sleep on my floor, Kitten? Or maybe you would like for our positions to be reversed...although I am sure it would be very difficult for you to watch without touching, because I would not allow you to.”

The images were painted in Molly’s mind right away of Caleb, lying where Molly was now, pleasuring himself, and Molly groaned, louder than he probably should have. Gods, yes, he wanted that…

“Mmm, you are giving me so many ideas, Kitten.” Molly turned to look at Caleb, face flushed, hand still pumping shamelessly, and his heart leapt into his throat at the sight of the other man, pants undone, running his fingers lightly over his own erection.

“Yes, gods,” Molly moaned, watching hungrily. “Please, I need that…”

“You will get it when I say you can have it. Tell me, when you need to get off, slutty boy, are you ever patient enough to open yourself up for a toy or do you just hump your own fingers until your cock spits up?”

“Both,” Molly whimpered. The humiliating words were stoking the flames of desire licking under his skin, his hard, sensitive erection dark and ready to release if not for the ring holding it back.

“Are you going to take that glass cock tonight, _Kätzchen_? Fuck yourself on it for me?”

“If you want me to,” Molly panted. That was generous; _Molly_ really wanted to, but he didn’t know if he would last with that inside him.

“I want you to take what you want,” Caleb purred, still not quite touching himself. “If you want that toy, take it, and show me how you fill your sweet ass, baby.”

Molly’s moans were rapidly turning to sobs of want to cum, want for Caleb to fuck him, want to ride that thick glass cock, want for Caleb just to touch him, anywhere- He pulled the plug out gently, his limbs trembling with arousal, and kneeled, legs spread. Molly poured generous amounts of oil over the smooth glass dildo, breath ragged with anticipation. Admittedly showing off a little, Molly spread himself with both hands and used his tail to hold the toy in place - Caleb’s obvious interest in Molly’s tail didn’t escape his notice - before sinking down on the head with a strangled gasp. It was _big_ , and on top of the rush of sensation that washed over him, Molly’s mind was filled with images of Caleb using it, sucking on it as he stroked himself, opening himself on it, and that was enough to push him to the brink of orgasm.

Molly paused, breathing shakily, and a flash of concern flickered over Caleb’s face.

“Green?” He asked cautiously. Molly nodded.

“Just trying to obey my instructions,” he replied with a grin. Caleb’s cock twitched at that, which Molly didn’t fail to spot. He let the threat of orgasm subside briefly before pushing down onto the remainder of the length, his chest heaving with aroused sobs and moans, and he felt utterly, deliciously, erotically exposed. He was so _full_ , his ass stretched easily around the girth after his thorough fucking last night, and Molly ran his hands over his torso, his thighs and chest, before landing back on his dark purple, dripping cock. He used one hand flat on the mattress to balance and his tail to keep the dildo where he wanted it, and slowly started to roll his hips back and fuck himself on it.

“Oh, very good, _Schatz_ ,” Caleb moaned, squeezing his own erection briefly to take the edge off. “Gods, you look amazing…”

“Talk to me,” Molly begged, “ _please, please,_ I need it… _”_ He didn’t care if it was impertinent, but he hoped his tone conveyed the proper amount of submission.

“Do you want to know what _I_ think about?” Molly’s whole body trembled with the effort of staving off his orgasm just a little longer.

“Yes, yes, please, oh gods, ohhhhh fuck, yes!” Caleb leaned forward, mirroring Molly’s position. His face was so close to Molly’s and he took Molly’s chin in his hand, pushing forward to kiss him. The kiss was slow but somehow _obscene_ , absolutely filthy, and Molly’s breath was ragged in his chest, dizziness threatening.

“I think about pushing you on the floor and shoving a gag in your dirty mouth,” Caleb growled, taking Molly’s lips again, this time harder, rougher.

“A proper one, because I know how much you love having your mouth stuffed.” Molly’s panting was so loud in the room, he thought, ridiculously, it might wake up someone upstairs.

“Tying you up with your wrists attached to your ankles and your face on the floor so I can keep your pretty ass up for me.” Caleb reached around and slapped Molly’s ass. The eye contact was intense, and Molly was getting weak, unable to hold back his climax much longer, but gods, did he want to hear this.

“And I think I would keep you there while I invited another man to my bed.”

Molly almost came right then but he choked on the groan instead, his surprise evident on his face. His hole clenched at the thought, putting more pressure on his sweet spot and threatening to release.

“You would be able to hear everything I was doing to him,” Caleb murmured, searching Molly’s face and running his thumb over Molly’s lips when he decided the expression was good surprise rather than bad surprise. “And _not_ doing to you.”

“Fuck, oh fuck, gods, _please_ -“

“Hush. I would give him everything he wanted, just how you wish I would give you. You would be stuck there, just dripping and wanting and not able to do a single. Thing. About it.”

Molly whined desperately and gasped, pulling his hand off his cock and halting the movements of his tail and his hips to stop the orgasm that had reared up on him. Seeing that Molly was trying desperately not to finish, Caleb snatched up a vial of oil, kissed him harsh and fast, and laid down, gesturing for Molly to get on top as he oiled his cock. Molly, catching his breath, pulled the dildo out and, clumsy with lust, straddled Caleb’s hips.

Caleb pulled him down into another kiss, both too desperate for anything but messy, panting making out. Molly rolled his hips back against Caleb’s length and wasted no time sinking down on it. His eyes almost rolled back in his head at how good it felt to be full again, but this time with _Caleb_ , warm and wanting and angled just right to hit Molly’s sweet spot on every thrust. The human looked positively wrecked under him, hair tangled on the sheets, lips red and wet from their kisses, his face flushed with desire. He wanted to give every inch of himself over to this gorgeous man.

He didn’t have much time to contemplate this, however, before Caleb’s hands went to Molly’s hips and Molly snapped out of it. He started rocking back and forth, just letting that delightful cock stroke him just right, but it didn’t take long for him to start riding Caleb hard. He braced himself on the headboard and got lost in chasing his orgasm, his dick rock hard and raw and ready to release at the barest touch.

The image of Caleb underneath him, moaning, his hands running over Molly’s chest and thighs, stopped his heart every time he looked into those ocean blue eyes.

“Yes, yes, yes, gods,” Molly panted with each upward thrust of Caleb’s hips, as Caleb buried himself deep in Molly. Both were clearly done playing, unable to focus on anything but driving the other to their climax. When Caleb wrapped his hand around Molly’s cock and stroked it, the sound that came out of Molly was pure animal, as the breath evacuated his lungs and he came, his entire body going rigid. The sight of his thick white release on Caleb’s freckled chest made him shudder, and he realizedas he came down that Caleb had stilled too, catching his breath.

“Did you…?”

“Came when you did, _Schatz_ ,” Caleb murmured breathlessly, pulling Molly in for another kiss. Molly purred happily and melted into the touch, collapsing over Caleb with a sigh and enjoying the kisses. _Had he heard that pet name before?_ His foggy, afterglow soaked brain couldn’t remember.

Molly winced a little when Caleb pulled out, but rolled over to the side, laying facing his lover. Caleb reached over to the nightstand and pulled over a pitcher of water, which he poured for Molly and himself. Caleb pushed the toys aside and lay down facing Molly, who tossed the ring over with the rest of it.

“Fuck, that was so good,” Molly mumbled, rolling into their usual cuddling position, resting his head on Caleb’s chest. He ran his fingers aimlessly over soft, freckled skin.

“I’m glad to hear that. You enjoyed everything?”

“Yes, definitely. I also _definitely_ want to try all that other stuff that I didn’t get a chance to.” Caleb chuckled and laced his fingers in Molly’s, the warmth and affection of his touch making Molly’s heart beat faster.

“You will.” The two lay in comfortable silence for a long while before Molly softly asked,

“What’re you thinking about?” Caleb, who had been running his nails over Molly’s back rhythmically, paused.

“Ah, I was thinking about…well, I was thinking that I could have been kinder to the shopkeep we met today.”

“Hmm? Which one?” Molly furrowed his brow.

“The bookstore owner. I’m sorry. To you, I mean.”

“Sorry? What for?” Caleb flushed.

“Well he asked you out, ja? I was a bit…cold to him. I - I thought maybe you might think that I…I don’t know, ah, did not want you to go, or something. It was rude of me, and I’m sorry and I hope he does not think less of you because of the company you keep.”

So Caleb had been jealous, after all. But he was also encouraging Molly to go on this date? So…did he care, or didn’t he?

“I…I mean, I didn’t think you were that much of an ass to him.”

“But you thought I was a _little_ bit of an ass,” Caleb replied with a sheepish smile. He massaged Molly’s hand in his while he talked. “I was. It is alright to say. I’m sorry and I hope you will have a good time.”

“So…you want me to go? I mean, that’s okay with you?” Molly immediately regretted the question. Why, oh _why_ did he ask that? It made it sound like he thought this was something it wasn’t. It _wasn’t._

“Ja, of course. We discussed as much, you are free to pursue other attachments.”

“As are you,” Molly reminded him. Caleb’s mouth quirked up in a smile.

“Sure, but I think you know I attract far fewer invitations than you.”

“Well, their loss,” Molly teased, squeezing Caleb’s hand. A small, secret, possessive part of him was kind of glad Caleb didn’t seem interested in pursuing anyone else, and that thought was immediately followed up by guilt, both for being territorial over someone who he had no right to, but also because _he_ was potentially pursuing other people. The thought, surprisingly, turned his stomach. He’d enjoyed his little flirtation with Rylderin, but the idea of actually spending an evening with him… Maybe it was just his sated state. _You should think about it again tomorrow._

“I’m, um, I’m not sure if I’m going to go,” Molly offered, and he did notice a spot of tension leave Caleb’s chest. “I know I _can_ , I just don’t really know if I want to.” He shrugged casually, though his heart pounding in his ears told him this statement wasn’t that casual at all. Molly cast around for something, anything else to change the conversation to. Staring at Caleb’s hand in his, he was reminded of what happened earlier - though Caleb hadn’t used a safe word, Molly felt like maybe he should address it.

“Hey, can I ask about something?”

“Sure.” Molly shifted so he was on his side, facing Caleb, rather than curled on top of him, and the human changed position too.

“Earlier when you were reading…it seemed like something upset you. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!” Molly added quickly, clasping Caleb’s hand between both of his. “But if you want to, you know, I’m here.” Molly’s tail swished nervously on the sheets behind him.

“Thank you, Mollymauk. Um…ja, I know you know some of my history. My mentor at the Academy was very harsh, in many ways, but, ah, ja, he would give us beatings. It was just something about the way that scene was described that…I do not know, it just reminded me of that.”

_The duke held the cane against Leone’s red welt and slowly, agonizingly slowly, dragged the tip of the cane over angry, sensitive skin. Leone bit his wrist to keep from…to keep from…sobbing._

A cold knot of dread dropped into Molly’s stomach, immediately followed by a hot, pulsing anger that consumed his flesh, as if a lit oil lamp had shattered against his chest. All he could picture was a young Caleb, bent over a desk, his teeth sinking into his own wrist as he tried his hardest not to scream. Someone did that to him. Someone who was probably just out there, living their life, not paying for every drop of Caleb’s blood he had spilled on the Academy’s stone floors. Molly felt the desire to change that well up in him, threatening to burst out of his throat, but he bit it back. This wasn’t about him, it was about Caleb, and that was a powerful and vulnerable admission that he needed to respond to.

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” Molly said quietly. “That’s a monstrous thing to do to someone and I’m sorry someone did it to you.” None of that was what he wanted to say. He wanted to ask who, where were they now, how long would it take to get there, he wanted to tell Caleb that he would gut that person like a fish and enjoy it, he wanted to tell Caleb a lot of things. Instead, he told him that. Caleb averted his eyes.

“What’s done is done. I’m a grown man now. I…do not think it will affect our, ah, intimacy, in the future.” Molly shook his head.

“I don’t care about that. It’s fine. I just wanted to be sure you’re alright. If you wanted to talk about it.” Caleb’s thumb stroked gently over the hand he was holding.

“Thank you. I am alright. Sometimes things creep up on us, as I said to you the other night.”

“Just to be clear, not asking this because of - whatever, just to be clear, when we discussed things like that, caning, you had said you’d be open to trying it…it sounds like maybe that wouldn’t be a good idea?” Caleb hesitated for a second.

“If it was something you really wanted, I would try it.” Molly shook his head.

“I can take it or leave it. If you feel like you want to try it, you’re the one who calls the shots here. If you never offer it, I won’t miss it. Okay?”

“Ja, that sounds good.” Caleb was quiet. “Thank you, Mollymauk. I’m sorry.”

“Never apologize for your boundaries,” Molly said firmly. “They’re there for a reason.”

Molly didn’t go back up to his room right away tonight. He and Caleb finished off the wine, talking, until the candles burned low. Eventually, they tiptoed off into the kitchen for a snack, giggling like kids and drunkenly shushing one another.

“Nott is a midnight snacker,” Molly whispered. “So we have to be quick or she’ll catch us.”

“I can be perfectly stealthy,” Caleb replied, grabbing Molly by the hips and pushing him up against the counter with a momentary clatter of dishes. Molly couldn’t really care less once Caleb’s lips were on him, mouthing at his neck, pulling him in for messy, drunken kisses. Molly wanted to hop up on the counter and go for round two but he resisted, knowing that the likelihood of getting caught was already too high for his liking (or Caleb’s, if he were thinking straight).

“You act like you’ve been at sea for six months,” Molly teased, lightly smacking Caleb’s cheek and slipping out from where he was pinned against the counter to open the icebox.

“Anything good?”

“Hmmm…ooh, there’s leftover kebab!” The process was sloppy, between Caleb’s inability to see in the dark, and both of their impaired dexterity, but they packed two of Caduceus’s round travel breads with slices of grilled lamb, tomato sauce and yogurt, and ate them standing over the counter.

“Turns out being on top builds up quite an appetite,” Molly quipped between mouthfuls of food, licking sauce off his fingers.

“Happy to switch places next time,” Caleb replied, giving Molly a squeeze on the ass.

“If you got yogurt on these pants there won’t be a next time.”

When it was finally too late for Molly to pretend he wasn’t fighting to keep his eyes open, he bid Caleb goodnight, got a goodnight kiss, which turned into several more kisses, until Molly remembered he had to go to bed, and said goodnight again, finally pulling away against everything in him that wanted to stay.

His bed taunted him again with its emptiness, but Molly was too floaty to care. He didn’t think too hard about the warm tingling in his chest and was asleep practically before his head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the encouraging comments! They seriously motivate me SO much. 🥰


	6. I will try hard not to scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Is this...is this.......PLOT? In one of MY fics?   
> (It's more likely than you think)

Molly was in a better mood over the next several days than he could remember ever being. He felt like he had shed a skin and woke up new, and practically bounced around the house. The positive change didn’t escape the notice of the rest of the Nein - Yasha, Nott and Jester all commented on it. Molly was lighter, happier, his hobbies brought him more joy and he felt weirdly optimistic for the first time in a long time.

He wasn’t stupid - he knew his nights with Caleb were part of the cause. _You’re just in a temporary little love bubble._ It’d pass, but for now, why not enjoy it? Love was fun, even when it was infatuation in disguise. Infatuation didn’t have to be scary, or vulnerable, or even reciprocal. As far as Molly was concerned, it might be better than the real thing.

There were moments, especially when it was just the two of them in a room, washing dishes or reading in relaxed silence, that Molly idly entertained the idea of being something more. That was beyond what either of them had said they wanted, but the fantasy was fun. Waking up next to Caleb in the morning, being able to hold hands when they walked down the street, getting to peel back those layers and knit back together what had been broken. But, Molly reminded himself, Caleb wasn’t interested in that and he wasn’t sure he was either. Being able to salve the wounds that lived deep inside Caleb would mean cracking his own ribs open. That prospect didn’t appeal to Molly, to say the least.

One afternoon, Molly was in the front yard with Beau, sparring, when a familiar shape came into view at the end of the walkway. He squinted at the figure and Beau landed a _whack_ with her staff right on his ribs.

“Don’t get distracted!” Beau reprimanded. “C’mon man!”

“Sorry, sorry,” Molly groaned, holding his side. “Just saw someone coming down the way.” Beau craned her neck to look where Molly’s gaze was.

“It’s just Essek.” Molly looked again and sure enough, the drow was gliding down the walkway, purposeful, paying them no mind.

“Hey, Essek!” Beau called. “How’s it going?” Essek gave a languid smile.

“Quite well, Beauregard, thank you. Mister Tealeaf, good to see you as well.” Molly nodded in acknowledgement, wiping his sweaty forehead on his sleeve. Essek’s eyes followed the motion.

“We didn’t know you were coming by,” Beau continued. “Here to see Caleb?” Molly felt his pulse spike all of a sudden.

“Ah, yes, we had planned to do a bit of learning this afternoon.”

“Oh, nice, well, enjoy, man,” Beau teased with a wiggle of her eyebrows. “I’m sure you’ll do _plenty_ of learning.” Molly saw Essek’s face flush a darker purple but he smirked, as if in amusement at Beau’s joke and shook his head as he floated to the front door.

Beau turned back to Molly and walked back to her starting position for the next round. Essek disappeared inside the door; Molly spotted a shock of red hair in the background. Molly forced himself to look back at Beau and clear the buzzing in his head, though the latter was less successful. She stepped back on one foot and raised her staff, waiting for his nod. When he gave it, she was a whirlwind, making strikes at any point he left open even for a moment, but Molly successfully parried her until the two were stuck holding off the other’s weapon.

“They’re like totally banging, aren’t they?” Beau asked in a hushed tone. “Don’t you think?” Molly’s focus slipped and Beau pushed past his sword, landing a blow on the shoulder.

“You know I can’t talk and fight at the same time!”

“Oh please, that mouth of yours could run in your sleep.” She was right, he’d just been distracted. An image flashed into his head of Caleb undressing the handsome drow, kissing him like he kissed Molly - _If he is, it’s none of your business._

“But do you think so? Jester does but she thinks everyone is fucking.”

“I don’t know, I don’t think they are,” he said, trying to keep his tone conversational, as he knocked her staff away from an easy hit on his knees. That was partially the truth. He _hadn’t_ thought they were, but now that Beau had put the thought in his head, his brain was turning like crazy, putting together any “evidence” he could remember.

“Well, maybe not _yet_ ,” Beau snickered, pausing to wipe the sweat off her face. “But there’s definitely _something_ there. That floaty fuck looks at Caleb like he wants to eat him alive.” _Let him try._

“What makes you think Caleb reciprocates?” Molly was certain the question couldn’t have come out less casual, but Beau didn’t seem to think anything was amiss. She shrugged.

“Just like, vibes. Besides, I haven’t touched a dick in my entire life and even I can see that guy is hot shit. He’s like, perfect. And Caleb likes guys. And they’re both wizards and talk about wizard shit all day. Why _wouldn’t_ he want to bang Essek?”

A hot ball of lead dropped into Molly’s chest. She was right. Why wouldn’t he? Was he already? Was Caleb doing all the things to Essek that he did to Molly, looking at him the way he looked at Molly? _Who cares?! It’s none of your business! You shouldn’t even be thinking about this._ The jealousy cooled into something tender and painful, a bruise deep in his sternum. He felt foolish and ashamed for even imagining the little domestic scenes he had conjured up in his idle time. Molly’s cheeks burned with embarrassment and he hoped he could play it off as exertion. _You aren’t special. He could be doing this with Essek or a hundred other people and why shouldn’t he? He’s not your boyfriend._

“Hey, uh, I think I’m going to throw in the towel,” Molly said abruptly. He pulled off his sweat soaked shirt and wiped his face again, hoping the flush was gone or at least excusable. Fortunately, Beau was among the more oblivious members of the group. He would have never been able to hide the depth of his panic from Jester or Caduceus. Beau nodded.

“Yeah, I’m getting pretty beat. I got you good in the ribs there, looks like.” Molly looked down and saw the heavy red bloom of a bruise on his side. He touched it and the sharp pain that radiated through him made him hiss in a breath.

“I think it might be a bit busted.”

“Oh, shit,” Beau said, her face genuine in its concern. “I’m sorry, dude, I really didn’t mean to get you that hard. Lemme get one of the healers, ok? I’m really sorry.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” Molly waved her off. “Don’t feel bad, I hope you’re at least that merciless when we’re fighting.” He grinned at her. “Nothing a little dose of Jester or Caduceus won’t fix.”

“C’mon, let’s go in.” Beau went up ahead of Molly and barged in, unconcerned by the studying going on in the next room over.

“HEY! JES? CAD? ONE OF YOU C’MERE! I FUCKED MOLLY UP PRETTY BAD, HE NEEDS HEALING!”

“Gods, Beau, you don’t have to-“ Molly started, before footsteps started flying down the stairs and the door to the library flung open. Caleb burst out of the library, wild panic on his face, until he saw Molly and sighed in relief.

“MOLLY!” Jester shrieked from the staircase.

“I’m fine, I’m fine!” Molly announced, holding his hands up. “Gods, Beau, you scared the whole house half to death!” Beau shrugged.

“Got ‘em down here.” Essek appeared from behind Caleb, who was now blushing fiercely and averting his eyes from Molly’s bare torso.

“Everything is alright?” Essek asked. Jester immediately started poking Molly all over until she found the spot that made him bite back a cry.

“Hey, could’ve probably spotted the bruise from space, yeah?” He groused. “You’re the healer here but I don’t think you’re supposed to poke broken bones. Yeah, everything’s fine,” Molly said toward Essek, holding up his arms so Jester could get a look at his ribs. “Beau was just being a bit dramatic.” Caleb wiped a hand over his face.

“Be careful, you two, please.” He shook his head and turned back into the library, closing the door firmly behind him and Essek. _At least he was clothed_ , Molly’s irritated internal monologue said, and he immediately felt guilty. Warm energy poured into him from Jester’s touch and he sighed in relief as the pain dissipated.

“Thanks, Jes. I’m gonna wash up.”

“I have the bathroom after you!” Beau called as Molly trotted up the stairs.

Molly’s brain kept turning as he bathed, absentminded. What in the nine hells was all that worry about Essek about? _Guess you’ve answered your question about how you’d feel if the tables were turned._ And Caleb wasn’t even flirting with Essek, not at least that Molly had seen, certainly not like he had with the shopkeep.

_You’re getting too comfortable in this. If you’re so torn up about the idea of him seeing someone else, you have do something._

When Molly returned downstairs, he made a pot of tea and sat down at the table to practice a new card trick he was working on. He mused as he worked on the technique that he didn’t really need to be doing this anymore - the Nein made plenty of money, the days of doing card tricks and tarot readings in bars for tips so he could get a hot meal were behind him. But he still enjoyed the look on a kid’s face when he could enchant them with a little magic, even though he couldn’t do any _real_ magic. Molly never got to be a kid. Learning the world was harsh and cruel and costly for him. His birth was a bloody and desperate crawl out of the cold, unfeeling womb in which his body was laid to rest, a perversion of the instruments of life and death. In a way, he hoped, he could give a little of the wonder and discovery he could’ve had to someone who’d turn out to be a little less fucked up than he was.

He was jolted from his reverie when the door to the library opened and Caleb and Essek stepped out. Caleb locked eyes with Molly right away and blushed, noticeably nervous.

“A very productive afternoon, Mister Widogast,” Essek said smoothly, gliding to the front door. Molly resisted the urge to narrow his eyes at the drow’s self-satisfied expression. He forced down the knot of brambles in his throat when Essek put his hand on Caleb’s elbow and drew in closer. Molly knew he was blatantly watching them but tried to keep his expression neutral as he fidgeted with his cards.

“Do think about my…invitation.” Essek’s voice was dripping with seduction. Caleb flushed darker, his eyes flickering over to Molly for just the barest moment.

“Ah, ja, I certainly will, Essek.” Molly gritted his teeth and became very interested in a bit of dirt stuck under his fingernails. _You’re jealous. You need to fix that._

Maybe that date with Rylderin was _exactly_ what he needed.

~~~

The next night, Molly’s mood was somewhat improved. He had a date tonight, and he felt totally fine about the non-exclusivity of his and Caleb’s relationship. There was no reason they couldn’t see each other and have a little something on the side.

 _Unless_ you’re _the something on the side._

Molly pushed down the sour thought. He was going to have a nice time tonight. It was going to be fine. He came down for dinner in a soft ash grey top with lace trim on the V-neck and flowy pastel pink pants. He’d even put on a little pearl and silver jewelry - for all his back and forth about whether he should agree to this date or not, he was, now, actually excited.

“Ooh, Molly!” Jester squealed. “You look so _nice!_ ” Caleb looked up as Molly walked in and did a double take. The way Caleb’s eyes dragged over his form made Molly want to forget the date, but he maintained his cool exterior and sat down at the table.

“Thanks, Jessie.”

“Are you going out tonight?” Yasha asked softly, putting the first platter of food down on the table. The sweet, delicate scent of fresh white fish wafted up from it.

“Yeah,” Molly said, suddenly nervous. _Who cares what he thinks? He’s fucking Essek, you can go out and do whatever you want._ Jester, naturally, gasped.

“Oh my gosh, with the bookstore guy again?!"

“Yep,” Molly replied. “Just getting a drink. Not a big deal.”

“Oooh, yeah, well last time you were ‘just getting a drink’ with him you came home with those bite marks on your neck, Molly,” Jester teased.

Molly wanted to sink into the earth. Caleb’s brow was furrowed slightly, but otherwise, his expression was unreadable. Molly was almost…disappointed? A small, clearly very confused, part of him almost wanted Caleb to be visibly upset by this, the way Molly was sure he was yesterday when Essek was all over Caleb. Then he felt guilty for wanting that. Ugh. _No more thinking about Caleb. You’re going out with a very cute guy, and you’re going to have a good time._

“We’ll see, darling,” Molly placated.

“I won’t wait up for you,” Jester giggled. “But you have to tell me all about it in the morning!”

As soon as dinner was finished, Caleb got up and went to the study, closing the door quietly behind him. Molly pushed away the storm of worries and guilt, retrieved his coat (fall nights in Rosohna were getting colder and colder) and headed out from the Xhorhaus as soon as he’d fulfilled his duties as that week’s table-clearer.

The walk to Rylderin’s shop was peaceful, the night cool and breezy. Molly was looking forward to it, even. The drow was ethereally handsome and seemed like an interesting person to spend an evening with. He could do worse.

When he entered the shop, Rylderin looked up from the counter where he was making some notes and smiled widely. He was dressed simply, in all black, a V-neck top and loose pants. A silver raven skull pendant hung at his sternum. His long white hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and brushed the back of his neck. Rylderin really was an effortlessly gorgeous man, Molly mused as he grinned back.

“Why, good evening, Mister Molly,” Rylderin said, unable to keep the smile out of his voice. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes tonight?”

“Speak for yourself,” Molly replied smoothly, ambling up to the counter. “Still working?” He gestured at the stacks of paper.

“It can wait until tomorrow. So I was thinking, I do know a very nice bar in the neighborhood that I would be happy to take you to, or…” Rylderin pulled back the curtain behind the counter. “I have a small sitting area in here, and a few nice bottles of wine to choose from. What would you prefer?” The sitting room felt far more intimate, but…was that a bad thing? The cozy couches and fireplace reminded him of the library at home - _No. No thinking about the library._

“Well, I think the first thing one ought to know about a man is his taste in wine, so I would be quite curious to find out what you’ve got in there.” The drow went to the door of the shop to lock it and draw the curtains.

“That’s just perfect for me,” he said. “Go ahead and make yourself comfortable, I just want to tidy up a few things - one of the downsides of working where you live is work never ends! I’ll be back there momentarily.”

Molly passed behind the curtain and busied himself by fixing a fire while Rylderin finished in the shop, and settled into the couch. He was fidgety and nervous, but not unoccupied for long as Rylderin came in with a sigh and a smile. Molly found the open honesty in his face quite charming. The elf was smooth, but perfectly genuine when he wasn’t teasing.

“Finally, that’s all taken care of. Sorry to keep you waiting. What do you usually drink?” He opened a small cabinet in the corner where Molly could see corked bottles lying on their sides.

“Whatever your favorite is. I’m in your home, I’ll drink what you drink.” Rylderin smiled. Truthfully, Molly would drink just about anything, and didn’t know the wine lingo, or how to tell what was “good” other than whether he enjoyed drinking it. He wasn’t interested in pretending to be something he wasn’t, but he didn’t need to expose himself as _that_ uncultured in front of such a refined man.

“You are too charming, Mollymauk. Let’s see…if you like sparkling, I have a lovely sparkling white, complex flavors, very fruity…I have a nice bottle of rose that’s quite easy on the palate, nice and round, still full-bodied…and ah, this red is lovely, nice dark berry aromas, slightly herbal… What sounds good to you?” Molly fully understood none of that.

“The…rose?” _Is that a sophisticated choice? What the fuck does round even mean?_

“The rose it is.” Rylderin handed him a chilled glass, already sweating with the light warmth of the small fire, and settled onto the couch across from him. “Now, Mister Tealeaf, I believe you owe me a story.”

Two hours later, the bottle was empty and the room was quiet, except for the low crackle of a burnt down fire, soft sighs and the whisper of clothing as it shifted between them. Rylderin was on top of Molly, straddling his hips, kissing slowly, sensually, down Molly’s neck and over his collarbone. Even though he was intoxicated (mostly with desire and only slightly with the alcohol), a small part of him panicked at the first scrape of teeth against his skin, reminding him that Caleb would probably see the mark. Molly pushed the thoughts away, hard, and pulled the drow up into a fierce kiss. _You’re not doing anything wrong._ The drow’s lips were warm and butter soft, and his mouth opened readily for the explorations of Molly’s tongue. Molly reveled in the taste of him, earthy and spicy and intimate.

Compared to a human man, Molly was of average height, but he was quite a bit taller than Rylderin. He found the elf’s petite frame alluring, and Rylderin seemed to enjoy that Molly could move him easily to put him where he wanted him. Molly hadn’t been a top in some time; his slim physique tended to catch the eye of men looking for bottoms, though not always, and he enjoyed the experience. He could already imagine how sweet Rylderin was going to feel clenching down around him… _Gods, he’s pretty_ , Molly thought when he pulled back.

Molly purred happily as Rylderin’s teeth made their way to his neck again; the slight edge of pain with the pleasure drew his arousal closer to the surface. He cupped the other man’s ass with one hand and slid the other up, under his shirt, nails dragging lightly over warm skin. Rylderin shivered on top of him, grinding his hips into Molly’s growing erection. Molly moaned softly, the pleasure pulsing up his spine.

“My room is just upstairs,” Rylderin murmured, lowering his head to suck another mark into Molly’s shoulder, where he’d pushed back the neck of his shirt. “If you’d like to move this to someplace a little more comfortable.” Molly hesitated for a second. The part of him that was thinking with his cock absolutely did want to go upstairs, right fucking now, and tear the clothes off this gorgeous man. Another part of him tugged at a knot in his stomach, remembering the look on Caleb’s face when he’d said he was going on a date. Then he remembered Essek leaving the house yesterday, putting his hand on Caleb’s arm, the way Caleb nervously looked over at him, and Molly pulled Rylderin in for a positively obscene kiss.

“Yes, I would like that very much.”

It was probably an hour past midnight when Molly finally extricated himself from Rylderin’s bed and dressed to go home. The elf knelt behind him, pressing soft kisses to his shoulders.

“I had a _very_ nice time tonight,” he murmured. Molly turned back with a smile and brought him in for another kiss, humming with pleasure at the warmth of the other man’s mouth.

“Me too,” Molly replied, breaking only to pull his shirt over his head.

“You don’t have to go, you know. I’m certainly not kicking you out.”

“Oh, I know, I really do,” Molly said apologetically. _Absence makes the heart grow fonder._ He also, genuinely, had no desire to stay, though he had enjoyed the evening quite a bit, he wanted to be back in his own space. “I had a really good time, I just do have to go home.”

“Can I see you again soon?” Rylderin asked. He was reclining back on the bed, his dark skin divine against the teal sheets. His long white hair was out of its tie, fanning out under him. He looked so delicious like this, Molly had half a mind to jump back into bed, but he sighed and kissed Rylderin on the forehead.

“I hope so. Are you here every day, so, um, if I come back?”

“I take off Da’leysen, but otherwise, I’m here. Maybe next time I can actually take you _out_ for a drink.”

“Well I suppose it’s my turn, yeah? You hosted tonight, after all.”

“Sounds like a date, Mister Tealeaf.” Rylderin smiled. _He’s even prettier by candlelight._ “I’m looking forward to it.”

Rylderin walked Molly to the door and bid him goodnight so he could lock up behind him. The night was quiet, most people asleep at this hour, aside from the bar patrons who were making their way out, back to their home or someone else’s. Molly used the quiet to think back on the evening. Did he want to see Rylderin again? He’d certainly had fun, and the elf had been just as delightful in bed as he’d hoped. It was, all in all, an enjoyable evening - he could see no reason to turn down another, though if they had a few of these nights he’d have to be clear about his intentions. He hoped he hadn’t misled Rylderin about how serious he wasn’t, but he doubted the owner of a smut and sex toy shop was the type to assume that falling into bed denoted romantic intent.

When he arrived back at the Xhorhaus, Molly crept in as quietly as possible, figuring everyone was most likely asleep. He hung up his coat, locked the front door, and immediately heard footsteps coming from the direction of the library.

“Mollymauk?” A soft, Zemnian accented voice inquired from the doorway. He’d forgotten Caleb’s damned _Alarm_ spell. The second he heard that voice, a powerful wave of nauseating guilt rolled through his stomach. _This was a mistake._ He couldn’t even lie, say that it had gone terribly and the date was a dud, given that he was sneaking back home at 1:30 in the morning. For once, he was grateful for Caleb’s poor vision in the dark, so at least he didn’t see what might have been very obvious bite marks on Molly’s neck.

“Ah, yeah, just me,” Molly whispered. Caleb was in his pajamas, with a robe wrapped around him and his amber globes of light following him through the darkened house. His hair was still tied back, so Molly didn’t think he’d been sleeping, but…

“I’m sorry to wake you,” he said anyway. “I forgot about, um, the _Alarm_ spell.” Caleb shook his head.

“No, no, you did not. I was up anyway.” The two stood in awkward silence for a moment. “Ah, I am glad to see you got home safely and, um…had a good time, I hope?”

Molly was almost stung by the authenticity in Caleb’s expression, the tangle of guilt in his stomach tightening further. At least to Molly’s eyes, strong enough in the dark to catch every slight movement of Caleb’s face, it seemed like he really meant that he hoped Molly had a good time. _He’s good. Why wouldn’t he?_ He’s _not a possessive prick._ All at once, Molly felt ashamed for going out with Rylderin - _how could you have ever pretended to want anyone but him?_ \- and for what he now fully knew was true, which is that if Caleb went out on a date with someone else and came back in the small hours of the morning, he certainly would _not_ hope that he had a good time. _He’s a better person than you._

He could’ve responded to Caleb’s half-question in a lot of ways. He could’ve been honest, and said he enjoyed himself but Caleb was what he really wanted, that he was jealous of Essek, that that might have been why he went looking for Rylderin, that he was sorry, that he wanted to be Caleb’s favorite of whoever he was sleeping with, that he hadn’t felt in bed with this other man the connection he felt when he was with Caleb.

“It was alright,” he said instead, swallowing thickly. Caleb raised an eyebrow and smiled.

“You are coming home after one in the morning, I trust it was more than alright, ja?” The words weren’t accusatory, they were amused. Molly relaxed a little.

“Yeah, you’re right. I, um, yeah, it was alright.” Smooth. “I’m gonna go to bed.” He went to move past Caleb but the human caught his arm.

“Molly, wait -“ Molly froze, a million possibilities about what could be coming next running through his mind. Caleb opened his mouth and closed it again, apparently thinking the better of whatever he was planning to say.

“Ah, nothing. Good night, Mollymauk.” The wizard retreated quickly to the library, disappearing behind the wooden door of his bedroom. The light flickering under the doorway snuffed out.

 _Oh, well, you’re definitely not going to be up for the next hour wondering about_ that.

In fact, Molly was thankfully tired enough that he only got through about 40 minutes of rumination before passing off into sleep.

~~~

When Molly woke up, he looked in the mirror and winced. The marks on his neck weren’t extreme, but they were visible, and he knew Jester would comment if she saw them. He put on a dusty rose turtleneck sweater and just hoped she wouldn’t ask about the date.

At breakfast, Caleb avoided his eyes. Molly needed to talk to him and explain himself. The part of him that insisted he hadn’t done anything wrong and that any jealousy wasn’t his responsibility to fix was drowned out by the part of him that just needed to know they were okay. It wasn’t just about his date last night - Molly was certain there was something between Caleb and Essek too, and it was clear that both of them were uneasy about the lack of clarity around their place with each other. Molly was sick of the back and forth, the guilt, the envy, doubting himself and doubting Caleb and getting hurt. Nothing felt right between them right now, and Molly knew they were both thinking a lot of things they weren’t saying.

Molly didn’t necessarily want to be exclusive - they’d agreed that that wasn’t the kind of thing they were doing here. But he wanted something, some kind of certainty that he was first in Caleb’s love life until such a time came as he actually wanted a relationship with someone. Molly had never been prone to insecurity, but he tried to give himself a little grace. The type of sexual relationship they were in was far more vulnerable than the casual affairs he’d had in the past. It was natural to want to know where he stood, how guarded he ought to be. He felt a little bad that he wasn’t self-assured enough to just trust that Caleb wasn’t going to turn around and drop him, but he was far from perfect. They desperately needed to talk.

Molly was on edge all day, trying to find a good moment but with one always finding a reason to wait. Caleb “looked busy”, or he “thought” he heard Fjord calling for him, or he found something he needed to attend to. He talked himself out of the conversation again at dinner, searching for tiny indications in Caleb’s face that the wizard wasn’t in a good mood, or was stressed, or in some other way wasn’t in the right headspace for a serious talk. Unfortunately for his anxiety, Caleb was just fine, easygoing, throwing a few jokes into the banter here and there. Molly even got a warm smile when nobody was looking. _Don’t be a coward. You’re not going to get a better time and if you wait longer you’ll just talk yourself down again._

After dinner, Molly helped Caduceus clean up, and when there wasn’t anything left he could possibly find to do, he put on a pot of tea. He ran through a few ideas in his head about how he should approach the conversation.

 _No big deal or anything, I’m just wondering if you’re seeing anyone else._ No…

 _I feel bad about going out last night without talking to you first. I know we said it was okay, but it didn’t seem okay._ Maybe…

 _I’m sorry I’m being so weird about this, I swear I’m not catching feelings or anything like that, but-_ Definitely not.

The kettle started to whistle and he hadn’t come up with anything that felt both honest and sufficiently offhand. Molly sighed and spooned tea into the pot, a blend of Caduceus’s he particularly liked that included chili peppers, dried apple skins and olive leaves. He even put some of Cad’s cream cheese shortbread on the tray, just because. Was that too much? Did it make him look too formal or like he’d put too much effort or thought into it?

_You’re definitely putting too much thought into it. It’s fucking shortbread. Get a grip._

Molly pushed off the counter, grabbed the tray, and left the kitchen, forcing his feet to walk swiftly to the library before he found another reason to hide from the talk they needed to have. When he entered, Caleb looked up from his desk, a scattered mess of papers, and smiled briefly.

“Ah, hello, Mollymauk.”

“I was hoping I might catch you before you started working again, if you have a moment, I mean.” _He’s obviously already working, it’s not a good time, you should leave._ Caleb cleared a spot on the table and rose to pull a chair over for Molly.

“Of course, I always have a moment for you.” Molly set the tray down and checked to make sure he’d closed the library door behind him before sitting down in the chair Caleb had pulled up next to his. Molly poured tea for them both, hands a little shaky. Caleb sat back down and searched Molly’s face, brow furrowed in concern.

“Is everything alright, Molly?” He asked softly, taking the proffered cup, but not drinking it. _He gave you the opening. Take it._

“Um, well, I was actually hoping to talk to you about something.”

“Ah, okay, ja, um, I was hoping to talk to you too.” Molly relaxed a little. Of course they’d be on the same page.

“Do you want to go first?” Molly asked, probably a little too quickly. Caleb’s cheeks flushed a light pink.

“Sure, if you would like. A-are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, no problem, please.” Molly breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, waiting for Caleb to initiate so he didn’t have to. The human fidgeted for a moment, looking everywhere except Molly’s face.

“Okay, well, um…I do not know exactly how to ask this, so…forgive me. You know our ah, mutual friend, Essek Thelyss?”

The bottom dropped out of Molly’s stomach. Oh, fuck. Caleb wanted to have a completely different conversation, probably completely the opposite of the one Molly wanted to have. _“Do think about my…invitation”_ forced its way into Molly’s head. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Well, at least he had told Caleb to go first, so he didn’t look like an absolute fucking fool laying his insecurities out on the table. Molly snapped to and nodded.

“Yes, what about him?” He hoped his tone wasn’t too cold. The last thing he wanted was for Caleb to get skittish and leave him behind like an old sweater. If that’s where this conversation was going, that he had decided to - start seeing? Keep seeing? Become exclusive with? - Essek, Molly had no backup plan, nothing prepared so that he wouldn’t just blurt out whatever he felt.

“Ja, I mean, of course you do,” Caleb continued. “Um, I do not know why I asked that. Ah, the reason I wanted to talk with you…Essek, um, is…very like me, in a lot of ways.”

_Keep a neutral face. If he’s going to break up with you the last thing you want to do is let him see how much it hurts._

“I’ve noticed,” Molly mumbled, hiding behind his sip of tea.

“Very like… _us,_ I suppose.” Caleb’s eyes were boring into Molly like if he just looked hard enough, Molly’s thoughts would appear written on his forehead. He was…pretty sure Caleb couldn’t do anything like that. Wait - us? What on earth could Molly and Essek “pretentious floating fuck with a permanent stick up his ass” Thelyss have in common?

“In what way?” Molly snorted, failing to hide his derision at the thought. Caleb suddenly looked far more nervous.

“Well, um, he, uh, shares our…mutual interest, if you could call it that.” Molly’s eyebrows practically shot up into his scalp before he could stop them, or even have a second to be sufficiently resentful that Caleb knew that about him, or wary about why he was bringing it up.

“ _Essek?_ Essek Thelyss, who doesn’t let his fucking feet touch the ground? I guess it’s true what they say, it _is_ always the quiet ones.”

“Ja, not always,” Caleb remarked, looking pointedly at Molly, barely suppressing a smile. Molly couldn’t help but crack a grin at that. Then he gathered himself and remembered that Caleb was probably trying to break up with him gently and his armor went back up, sliding imperceptibly under his skin to form a shelter around his heart.

“So, um…?” Molly didn’t finish the question, prompting for Caleb to continue. Tear the scab off now, and it would heal faster. Caleb looked anxious again.

“Well, I just wanted to let you know, I mean, without…judgment, about your response, Essek is, um, having a…party, I guess? At his towers, in a week, with others who are…like us. A, um, a party where people may…engage in such activities with each other, or um, other guests. And he has extended an invitation.”

Molly didn’t know how to respond. Caleb apparently wasn’t breaking up with him, but Molly’s answer was potentially dependent on the things _he_ wanted to talk about. He stalled for a moment, tapping his fingers nervously. Caleb looked like he wanted to sink into the floor.

“And, um, you’re letting me know that you’re going? Or asking if I think you should go?” _Or asking how I feel about you going_ , he didn’t say. Caleb frowned, his head tilting slightly to the side.

“Ah, no, I mean - well, I suppose I am asking how you might feel about such a thing.” Molly swallowed hard and bit his lip.

“Well,” he said slowly. “I think that is perfectly within your right as we discussed, you are free to do anything you like.” Caleb stared at him for a second and then nodded.

“So you would not like to do that, then?” Now it was Molly’s turn to stare blankly. Then the dots connected.

“The…invitation was for _both_ of us? How does Essek know about us?” Had Caleb _told_ him? Molly didn’t care much, the Shadowhand dealt in secrets and could be trusted to keep one that wasn’t politically important. But if Caleb had told Essek about them, maybe… Caleb couldn’t meet his eyes again.

“I am very, very sorry, Mollymauk,” he said. “I did not mean to betray your confidence, I just - he saw, when, um, you were hurt, the way I sort of…panicked, and he guessed there was something going on between us. I was caught off guard and so I could not lie to him. I understand if you are upset with me, I feel terrible about it.” Molly waved him off, excited now that he fully understood what he was being offered.

“Don’t worry about it, I just didn’t expect that. Can you tell me a little more about it?”

“Ah, yes, I mean, I have not attended such a function before, but Essek said that other couples - or, um, people who have such an arrangement as we have, I mean, will come and meet one another and if they wish to, um, become intimate, they may do so.” Molly looked at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment, wondering how in the nine hells Caleb was going to fare at a party like this when he used terms like “becoming intimate” instead of just saying fucking. Caleb must have interpreted his momentary silence as hesitation, because he continued hurriedly,

“But, of course we do not need to do that, if, um, if you do not wish to. We could just go and enjoy the party and not sleep with anyone at all, it is not a requirement. It might be a fun evening even if you do not wish to partake in, ah, that side of things. Or I can just tell him no, that is fine, really-“

“Caleb, I think it sounds great,” Molly reassured him, placing a hand over his. “I think I would really like to try something like that. But don’t you hate parties?”

“Ja, usually,” Caleb admitted. “I would certainly not be going without you.” Caleb blushed a dark red and clapped his mouth shut. _Gods, he’s adorable._

“We should discuss details closer to the night of. Boundaries and whatnot.” Caleb nodded.

“I agree. What was it that you wanted to talk about? You had something on your mind, ja?” _Ah fuck._ Molly had gotten so caught up in the excitement of going to a sex party with Caleb that he’d almost forgotten he actually did have something he wanted to talk about. Now he felt silly. How could he have thought Caleb was _dumping_ him?

“Are you fucking him?” Molly blurted before he could stop himself. Caleb stared at him in shock.

“ _Was?_ Who?”

“King Dwendal, Caleb. No, Essek.” Molly’s face got hot and he looked down at his hands.

“ _Nein_ , no, not at all, I - no.” Caleb paused. “….Why do you ask?” Molly sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“Listen, I need to be honest with you. The last few days things have been…weird. With us.” Molly’s mouth was running before he could stop it. “I know we said it was okay to see other people, but I don’t feel like it’s okay.” Caleb’s lips pressed together in a hard line.

“Molly, I am really sorry about what happened, with the shopkeeper, I just…a little jealousy got the better of me, and it was not alright.”

“But you didn’t want me to go see him last night.” That came out more accusatory than he meant it, and Caleb looked guilty.

“I…well, no. But that is my own problem to deal with, really. I meant it when I said I hoped you had a good time. Yes, I do not want to lie to you, a small part of me did not want you to go, but the rest of me wants you to be happy, genuinely.” Molly took Caleb’s hand again.

“I want you to be happy too. I…I’ll be honest, I was pretty jealous too, when I misinterpreted Essek’s comment the other day to mean you two were sleeping together. And then I felt bad that I felt that way. I’m not - look, I’m not asking to be exclusive or anything.” Caleb looked more confused.

“O-okay. So…what do you want?” _Isn’t that the million platinum question?_

“I’m not really sure how to say what I mean,” Molly confessed. “I think that…what we are doing here…requires a lot of vulnerability. From both of us. And I think I need to know how…how…that…or-”

“Where we stand with one another?” Caleb asked softly, taking Molly’s hand more firmly. Molly’s heart was beating at a thousand miles a second.

“Yeah, I guess. Maybe.” Molly found no mocking or wariness in Caleb’s face, nothing to suggest that he thought Molly was overstepping or being ridiculous.

“I think,” Caleb said slowly, after an agonizing pause, “that it is important to have such conversations, ja? I wish you had come to ask me about Essek sooner, if you had these suspicions, because I hate to see you so…troubled.” He laced his fingers in Molly’s. “What we are doing, as you put it, is…worth a lot to me. I am not seeing anyone else, but if I were, as far as I’m concerned, you are, ah, primary, in that realm of my life. Does that help?” Molly slumped back in his chair, releasing the tension he hadn’t known was permeating his body.

“Yeah. It does. I, um, feel the same way. I know that seems rich, considering I went on a date last night, but, um, this is the most important to me, in that aspect of my life also. So. Yeah.”

Caleb leaned forward with a shy smile and pressed a brief, sweet kiss to Molly’s lips. With the touch of Caleb’s mouth, every drop of fear, jealousy, doubt, apprehension, they all melted away. Molly didn’t feel foolish for his worries, he felt validated. Caleb had listened, taken him seriously, and reassured him. Maybe that was all he’d really needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll reward you with oodles of pure unabashed filth in the next installment. I swear.


	7. the evening wind will shake the blinds

Molly shivered in the night air, though whether it was nerves or the chill of the fall evening, he couldn’t tell.

“How are you feeling?” Caleb asked softly, touching Molly gently on the shoulder.

“My nipples could cut glass,” he muttered, though he couldn’t help but smile when Caleb laughed. Caleb tightened his arm around Molly’s shoulders and rubbed his arm to warm Molly up. It wasn’t helping much, but Molly wasn’t complaining.

“Really, though. How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. Excited. A little nervous. Horny. That’s probably first on the list of feelings at the moment.”

After their talk in the library, Molly had stuck around to finish off the pot of tea and chat with Caleb about other things - he even told him about his date with Rylderin, and they laughed over Molly’s panic about seeming sufficiently wine knowledgeable.  
  
“If only he could have seen you some of those nights out in Zadash, he’d know you are a true connoisseur.” Molly giggled.

“I’m guessing he wouldn’t have even touched that swill.”

“Ja, and you call Essek pretentious?”

“Oh _please_ , liking good wine is _nothing_ compared to not deigning to walk on the ground!”

It felt oddly comfortable, discussing his date with Caleb, now that they knew where they stood. It felt natural, as if Caleb were obviously the only person Molly would want to talk about it with. They traded a few stories of past great dates and terrible ones, and Molly took the opportunity to ask something he’d been curious about for a long time.

“Are you still interested in dating women, or are you solidly playing for this team now?” Caleb blushed a little and shrugged.

“Ah, I have not been with a woman in some time. But…that does not mean I would not be interested.” Molly nodded, his mind drifting to one of the purchases sitting in his bedside table.

“Just wondering. I know you were quite the heartbreaker in your youth.” Caleb scoffed.

“Hardly. I had a girlfriend. I went on _some_ dates. I was busy, at the Academy.”

“Yeah, busy being the filling in a threesome sandwich, by your own account.” Caleb sputtered into his teacup, red-faced.

“I think you would like to imagine that was a more…common occasion than it was,” he teased, when he regained his composure.

“Perhaps. Why’s it been so long? Men just easier?” Caleb nodded.

“Ja, mostly that. The picking up requires a little less conversation on my part, I find, and after I, um, left Rexxentrum, even that was difficult for me for a long time.” _That was difficult, but falling into bed with some stranger wasn’t?_ The concern that he sometimes felt for Caleb, particularly in moments where he caught a glimpse of something painful behind the curtain, surfaced, but he kept his face neutral. After all, he was hardly one to judge on that account.

“The picking up only requires less conversation for you because you’re cute,” Molly teased, noticing the way Caleb’s cheeks reddened again and his eyes averted.

“You as well, ah, enjoy the company of both men and women, ja?” Again, the thought crossed Molly’s mind of how Caleb was going to survive that party.

“Yes, I don’t think one should have to choose between fine things. And how could one not love them both?”

They’d parted that night with a few kisses and a sultry whispered instruction in Molly’s ear to keep his hands off himself before the event next week.

As a result, tonight, his blood hummed in his ears, every muscle in his body was taut and his skin felt like it was on fire. He was on a hair trigger tonight, and they were barely walking up to the gates outside Essek’s tower.

“Hey,” Caleb whispered softly. “Remember, if anyone does anything that makes you uncomfortable, you only need to say the word and we will leave, ja?” Molly nodded silently, squeezing Caleb’s hand.

Caleb and Molly entered into the front hall, where a young drow in plain clothing held an arm out for their coats. Molly was a little sad to see Caleb’s coat come off - he looked so nice in the rich fabric - but he did very much like what Caleb was wearing tonight. Thankfully, a few days ago Molly had thought to ask what Caleb planned to wear, because he was met with a blank stare and an absolute travesty of a cobbled together suggestion. The horror on his face must have been obvious, because Caleb raised an eyebrow, handed him his coin purse, and gave him permission to choose something for him instead, if nothing he already owned would be suitable. Molly certainly hoped he’d get to do that again, so he kept his selection fairly conservative, opting for something subtle. He’d chosen a black top with a modest V-neck made of raw silk, soft, with just the barest hint of luster, and a pair of black trousers, similar in shape to the ones Caleb usually wore, but a touch slimmer. Molly told himself that since he was helping Caleb out, he ought to get something in return, and he decided that that something would be a better view of Caleb’s ass. Molly had suggested that Caleb also wear his nice coat and the black boots with the silver buckling that Molly secretly liked _very_ much, and Caleb had indulged him. Molly thought he looked good enough to eat.

Molly hesitated for a moment when the drow held her hand out for his coat, but slid it off his bare shoulders and handed it over. The look in Caleb’s eye as he took in Molly’s bare chest was enough to dissipate any doubt as to whether going shirtless was a smart choice. Caleb and Molly weren’t much inclined toward hand-holding in public, but in this moment their interlaced fingers gripped one another’s tightly as they stepped into the main room of the house, filled with the sound of laughter and glasses clinking and the low murmur of conversation. Molly was relieved to see he wasn’t the only one in the room in a state of undress; there were some others here who were in far less than him. Molly gave Caleb’s hand a squeeze before taking his back, folding them in front of himself. He could feel the warmth and ease of letting go starting to seep into him, and he welcomed it, letting it wash his fears away.

_This is all you need to do. Right here, right now, all you need to worry about is doing what I tell you. Nothing but that matters. Everything else, everything outside of that, is for me to worry about._

The words relaxed him the way they had the first time he’d heard them; it was the hundredth time he’d replayed the memory since. Right here, right now, nothing mattered but being good for Caleb. Not his worries about his attractiveness, or his inexperience with these events, or his relative lack of intelligence and sophistication compared to Essek and the people he was sure Essek hung around with. All that mattered was that Caleb was pleased with him.

The room they were in was decorated in tasteful sapphire blue and neutral tones. The furnishings were functional and simple, but timelessly fashionable and clearly high quality. When they spotted Essek, floating around and sipping a pale yellow drink in a crystal glass, Molly wanted to tell him how much he liked his taste, but kept his mouth shut. He and Caleb hadn’t set any limitations on Molly speaking freely, but he wasn’t sure what the etiquette was. Was he not supposed to speak first? Would others expect him to be silent? Looking at the other guests, it seemed pretty obvious who topped and who bottomed in each couple or grouping; some were, like him, in a state of undress, some maintained submissive posture and distance from their top, and some had a physical marker on them like a collar. For a handful of people, it was difficult to tell, though they were in the minority.

Caleb made a beeline for Essek as soon as they found him, and the drow turned and smiled. He was wearing a mantle in dark chocolate brown silk, embroidered expertly with burnished bronze thread. Molly didn’t think he’d ever seen this cloak, as Essek usually wore his Shadowhand silver and blue, but it occurred to him that it was probably wise that Essek left the markers of his station behind for the evening.

“Good evening, Mister Widogast.” Essek made eye contact with Molly and nodded with a smile.

“Essek,” Caleb said, “could I trouble you for a moment?”

“You are never a trouble to me, Caleb,” Essek replied smoothly, laying his hand on Caleb’s arm. He glanced at Molly. “Is everything alright?”

“Ja, certainly, I just - we just got here and I am finding myself a bit…out of my depth.” Caleb glanced back at Molly. “Mollymauk as well. Could we, perhaps, just…I would appreciate it if you might enlighten us on some of the, ah, expectations, or etiquette, in place this evening?” He reached back for Molly’s hand, which Molly gave, and stepped forward to stand next to Caleb. He was primed to slip into his hazy, happy space, but Caleb didn’t seem quite ready to take the lead just yet.

“Of course, I was assuming you would come see me when you got here so I could do just that,” Essek reassured. He put a hand on Molly’s shoulder as well, and the three men drew close to talk softly.

“So, first of all, I am very glad you two are here. I don’t invite just anyone to these functions and I was thrilled to be able to invite the two of you, so welcome, and I hope you enjoy yourselves. In terms of the other guests, I would advise just socializing as if this were any other party. Most everyone is very interesting…of course, I’m biased because I wouldn’t invite them if they weren’t. There are some fellow arcanists here, others who share our, ah, intellectual pursuits as well as our private ones. I’m sure you will find some mentally invigorating conversation among the other guests, Caleb.”

Essek smiled at Caleb and Molly felt a sting in his chest. He didn’t think Essek’s subtle slight was because of Molly’s status in this situation, as much as Essek’s disdain for what he didn’t perceive as sufficiently high minded to deserve his attention - which Molly was certain included him. Caleb squinted at Essek, but just as soon as Molly registered the expression of displeasure, it was gone. Essek continued, his gaze having been diverted momentarily to an attractive pair of drow women who greeted him with a wave.

“Are there…rules to just having conversation? Is it alright to address, ah, both members of the pair, or only the, um…” Caleb trailed off awkwardly.

“Top?” Essek asked, his mouth twitching up in an amused smile. “Yes, this is important, and not only with respect to engaging in conversation. Each couple has their own rules, and generally, the expectation is that you respect that. To take conversation as an example, in some couples, the pet may be permitted to speak freely, or to speak with you, Mollymauk, but not with Caleb, or not with anyone at all. It simply depends. That’s true for everything. Generally, guests communicate their boundaries with one another without issue.

“The assumption is that standards of discipline and propriety are set within each, ah, unit, and so even if you see a certain behavior that would not be tolerated in your relationship, you must assume that it is within the boundaries of theirs and that the top will handle it as they see fit if it is not. It would be inappropriate, for instance, for someone to challenge your authority, Caleb, by accusing Molly of bad behavior. That would certainly be a breach of etiquette. Does that make sense?”

“So even if in someone else’s couple, the bottom isn’t allowed to talk to another top, if I do it, they’ll just assume that Caleb spoils me?” Molly asked, grinning. Essek chuckled.

“Yes, more or less. Most of the people I’ve invited this evening have been to my parties before, so I would be extremely surprised should you run into any of that type of trouble, and I hardly think you’re likely to start it yourselves. I suppose you are probably wondering about the, ah, more interesting components of this evening, yes?” Both nodded. “Well, let me show you the space.” Essek gestured for Molly and Caleb to follow and they did so, Caleb still tightly grasping Molly’s hand. The three descended a side staircase, all the torches burning in the sconces, until they came out in a large open room, empty of people but full of interesting things. Molly’s jaw dropped.

This room was beautiful too, deep gunmetal blue walls dotted with bronze light fixtures, lamps burning in the wells. The floor was made of gorgeous creamy white marble, so glossy it was practically reflective. The furniture placed around the room matched the expensive aesthetic of the rest of Essek’s home, despite its far less pedestrian use. There was a black leather sling seat hanging from the rafters; multiple chairs and couches in lush fabrics; 2 wooden X-shaped crosses on opposing walls, both stained black and covered in studded bolts; on one wall sat an enormous ivory painted cabinet, and wasn’t Molly itching to know what was in there? The space was very large, perhaps the size of the entire tower’s footprint, and in addition to all that, he spotted 4 beds placed strategically around the room, a set of stocks, metal cages in varying sizes… Molly’s head was spinning with the both his imagination running wild and taking in this, once again, extremely surprising information about Essek “stick up his ass” Thelyss.

“Holy _scheisse_ , Essek.” Essek smirked at Caleb.

“Fortunately for everyone here tonight, the Lucid Bastion pays me far too well.”

“I do not even know what one would do with some of these things,” Caleb murmured, running his hand over the spine of a metal frame that appeared to have a built in ring for the neck, as well as ankle and wrist shackles, and some kind of stand protruding from the front. Ridiculously, it reminded Molly of a music stand, and he similarly had very few ideas as to what it could be for.

“As you can see, the place is quite well stocked,” Essek continued. “Let’s talk about safety. First, nothing should happen without the approval of everyone involved. If someone wants to join you, they ought to ask, and likewise you ought to ask to join someone else. ’No’ is a full answer and must be respected as such. I say this, of course, not because I believe you to be animals, but because I want you to know that I would never tolerate someone behaving in such a way against you in my home. I don’t believe you have to worry about any such thing with the collection of folks present tonight, especially considering you are the only ones who have not been here before, but I want to be extremely clear that you need not accept anything that makes you uncomfortable. And since it is your first time at a gathering like this, there is no shame in just mingling and watching as you wish. You need not feel pressure. If you do decide to join in the fun, however…” Essek led them over to the ivory cabinet, and Molly couldn’t bite back a smile. He wanted to know what was in there and try _everything._

“You may use anything you like down here, that’s what it’s for. It’ll all be cleaned afterwards, don’t worry about that, just put it aside so everyone knows it’s been used.”

Molly was trying very hard to listen, but was finding it difficult once Essek opened the large armoire. It was a veritable treasure horde. Spreader bars, crops, a few small steel cock cages, harnesses with possibly the largest selection of dildos Molly had ever seen, excluding some (but not all!) sex shops, leather collars, restraint getups in all kinds of configurations - anything Molly could possibly have thought of doing, and many things he genuinely hadn’t, were available in this blessed, beautiful man’s basement.

“Admiring my collection, Mister Tealeaf?” Essek cooed, drawing a finger under Molly’s chin. He shivered with the contact and drew in a breath. Essek must have noticed him not paying attention.

“Yes, sorry, I - found it a bit distracting.”

“Understandable,” Essek laughed. “Anyway,” he continued, looking primarily now at Caleb. “If there’s anything you want to use, but you aren’t sure how to do so safely, simply ask - me, or someone else. Truly, the last thing I want is to have to call in a cleric, given the ah, delicate nature of my reputation and that of many of the guests. Though as I saw last week, your pet here can take quite the beating.” Essek winked and Molly blushed.

“Ja, that is true,” Caleb agreed, squeezing Molly’s hand and letting it go. He seemed to be getting more comfortable, looser, excited and ready to step into his role. When he looked back at Molly, the familiar, confident hunger in his eyes was visible, just for a second, and Molly grinned. Essek glanced between them.

“Well, I will leave you to look around at your leisure and see you back upstairs.” Essek’s hands grazed over their shoulders and he glided up the stone staircase, torches flickering in his wake. Molly waited until he was out of sight and looped his arms around Caleb’s neck, unable to keep a huge smile off his face.

“You look like a kid in a candy store,” Caleb murmured, putting his hands on Molly’s hips and bringing him in for a kiss.

“I feel like one. Did you have _any_ idea?!”

“Nein, not at all. I would have never guessed. Though in retrospect, I suppose it does not surprise me. Those who are tightly wound often need a way to…release.” Molly hummed in agreement against Caleb’s mouth, running his hands over Caleb’s chest. Caleb pressed him against the wall, still holding Molly by the hips.

“I kind of wish we could just forget the party and have the place to ourselves,” he breathed, kissing Molly’s neck. Molly whined softly and tilted his head to give Caleb more access. He tensed a little when Caleb stopped, running his fingers over something on Molly’s shoulder.

“Is this…?” Molly’s face grew hot. Most of the bruises from his date with Rylderin had faded, but there was a particularly dark bite mark that hadn’t quite vanished yet.

“Um…yeah, I think that’s from last week.” Molly fidgeted and smiled apologetically.

Caleb pressed on the mark, which was only barely tender now, and scowled. He bent to Molly’s shoulder and ran his tongue over the spot, making Molly whine again, gods, he was so high strung. Then Caleb’s mouth sealed against Molly’s skin; Molly gasped and his knees went weak at the dark sunburst of pleasure and pain. His head fell back against the stone wall as his nails dug into Caleb’s back, and he was just on the edge of saying it was too much when Caleb pulled away, moving to mouth gently over Molly’s neck. Molly inspected the new mark, already blooming shades of dark wine and plum under his lavender skin. He loved when Caleb bit him, and especially tonight, it was a heady rush to know he’d be walking around with it visible, marked as belonging to someone. Not just someone, _him._

“Don’t like seeing another man’s mark on you,” Caleb mumbled, kissing up the line of Molly’s jaw. Molly was already half hard and Caleb’s suggestion of forgetting the party was sounding better and better.

“If we don’t get back upstairs soon I don’t think we ever will,” Molly warned as Caleb’s breath ghosted over his ear. Caleb groaned but nipped Molly’s lobe and pulled back, his eyes already black with desire. “You ready?” Molly asked, tucking a loose strand of auburn hair behind Caleb’s ear.

“Ja, are you?” Molly nodded and they returned to the party, Molly following behind Caleb in a subtle show of submission as he started to slip into his foggy, relaxed headspace.

As soon as they emerged, Essek floated over and put his hand on the small of Caleb’s back, guiding him, and by extension Molly, over toward a drow couple, a man and a woman, who were watching them expectantly.

“Ah, I was just looking for you, Caleb, I would like you to meet two of my dearest friends, Ranavir and Baeolin of Den Myath. Ranavir is the head of the wheelwrights' guild in Rosohna, he’s constructed carriages for Her Radiance by his own hand that many would properly call works of art. And lovely Baeolin is one of the top military archmages in service of the Queen.”

Molly raised an eyebrow but tried not to let his feelings show on his face. It seemed weird that Essek would introduce one of the top arcanists in charge of the assault on the Empire to an Empire wizard, but perhaps being mediators and “heroes” was enough to paper over any social awkwardness.

“Ranavir and Baeolin, I am sure you recognize Caleb Widogast and Mollymauk Tealeaf, Heroes of the Dynasty. Caleb is quite an accomplished mage in his own right, I’m sure you two will have plenty to discuss.” Caleb blushed at the compliment, but Molly thought Essek was perhaps understating. Far be it from him to correct the man in his own home, though. He also couldn’t help but notice Essek’s failure to mention anything about Molly other than his “title”, which again irked him, but he let it go.

Molly’s gaze flickered between the elves in front of him, trying to discern who was who in this coupling. He thought Ranavir seemed to be keeping slightly behind his - wife? Mistress? Girlfriend? But it was difficult to tell whether that was coincidental or not.

“Charmed,” Baeolin said, smiling warmly and extending her hand, which Caleb took. Molly put his out as well; she hesitated for a second, and then took it, giving him a brief smile. Baeolin was a beautiful woman, with pale brown, almost beige eyes, and a thick, shiny mane of curly platinum hair piled atop her head. She was tall and slender, her complexion more akin to midnight blue than the black or purple of many of the drow Molly had seen. Baeolin wore a very flattering floor length aquamarine dress with long sleeves and a pleated skirt, but Molly spotted a pair of heeled black leather boots peeking out from the hem and was willing to bet that whatever was under the dress was far more interesting. She turned her head only slightly to address Ranavir.

“Slave, you may get me a drink. And one for our new friend as well.” She smiled languidly at Caleb, whose “deer in the road” expression had only intensified in the last two minutes. “Perhaps your pet should assist him, as I presume he knows your tastes?”

Molly actually did kind of want to talk to Ranavir, but he looked at Caleb, who nodded slightly. Happy with the permission he’d been granted, he made off in the direction he’d seen the man go off in, aware of the tenderness in his shoulder with every step. The party wasn’t large, there were fewer than fifty guests, but Essek’s home was labyrinthine. He found Ranavir near the edge of a bar table, where one of Essek’s servants was pouring drinks.

“Ah, I was hoping you would be sent after me,” Ranavir said with a smile when he spotted Molly. “I wasn’t sure what I should bring for your…?” He paused, waiting for Molly to finish the sentence however he liked. Molly hesitated - he didn’t have a name for Caleb, not like Caleb had for him. “Master?” Ranavir supplied helpfully.

“Sure, let’s go with that. What are you bringing for your - Mistress?”

“Ah, Essek’s man here makes this drink she’s had at his house before and she loves it. It’s got some kind of smoky liquor, lemon juice, orange juice, and some crushed strawberries.” Strawberries were a rare enough treat this time of year as it was, but putting them in a beverage felt almost excessively luxurious. Essek apparently wasn’t kidding when he said the Lucid Bastion paid him more than he knew what to do with. Molly remembered, somehow, so long ago now at the Harvest Festival in Zadash, when he’d won a big strawberry at a game and let Caleb have a bite of it. He’d looked so happy, maybe one of the first times Molly had ever seen him smile.

“I think he’d like that too. And so would I, actually.” The two men stood quietly for a moment. “So you’ve been to one of these before?”

“Oh yes, a few. It’s your first time, Essek was saying?” Molly nodded.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“I hope this doesn’t come out…you know, rude, because of course I hear you’re an experienced artist but it’s fair to say you work more with your hands, yeah?” Ranavir nodded. “Lots of eggheads here, you know?”

“I know what you mean. It can be a bit to get used to. Some are worse than others about it, you know? I don’t mean to speak ill of our host, of course. Just that some of the other guests look down on those whose professions are less…intellectual, I suppose.” Ranavir’s eyes flickered over to the servant and then back to Molly in a way that Molly took to mean he definitely did also mean Essek, but wasn’t going to say it in front of one of his people.

“Well,” Molly sighed, taking the two goblets that were placed in front of him, as Ranavir took the single one, “it is nice to meet the one other person in Essek’s circle who hasn’t got their nose shoved in books all day.” Ranavir chuckled.

“Indeed it is. But if you ask me, it’s a small price to pay. Sometimes, yeah, I do feel a little excluded when she’s chattering away with some other mage about something I don’t understand, but just getting to watch her get excited about it, and realize yet again just how _smart_ she is…. I just can’t get enough of it. I’m just…in awe of her. I’ve been married to Baeolin for a little over nine decades now and every time I fall in love with her all over again.” Molly was genuinely touched by Ranavir’s words. That kind of love was a fairytale as far as he was concerned.

“That’s…wow. That’s really sweet.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say that wouldn’t cheapen Ranavir’s statement, so he left it at that. When they returned to their respective partners, the anxiety had left Caleb’s face without so much of a trace that it had ever been there. He and Baeolin were engaged in an intense discussion about the potential for developing new power word spells, expanding the possibilities and bypassing the limitations imposed by the mechanisms of enchantment. Molly approached and handed Caleb off his drink; he slid an arm around Molly’s waist and pulled him against his side without breaking his conversation. Ranavir smiled at him and gave him a nod, standing behind his wife and watching her wave her free hand wildly as she grew more animated in this discussion that Molly understood probably a quarter of, at most.

Once the conversation turned away from magic, Caleb’s nerves returned, and Molly picked up the bulk of the talking. He was relieved to find that Baeolin was a truly delightful person; she seemed genuinely interested in his tattoos and asked him about his art. It wasn’t long before more people started drifting downstairs; Baeolin saw this and turned back to Caleb and Molly.

“I think I would very much like to know what everyone is so interested in down there. It seems like perhaps the real fun is beginning.” Baeolin looked up at Caleb with what Molly could’ve identified from across the street as bedroom eyes and ghosted her fingers over his cheek. “It was lovely to make your acquaintance, Mister Widogast. I’m sure we’ll be seeing much more of one another.”

“N-nice to meet you too,” Caleb managed, blushing.

“Come along, Slave.” Baeolin snapped and Ranavir followed. Molly had about eight hundred snarky comments rolling through his head, and he thought it was an absolute tragedy that Caleb would never be able to appreciate Molly demonstrating his obedience by holding them back. Caleb was easily flustered around beautiful women, and the ethereally enchanting drow archmage was no exception.

“Would you like to go downstairs, _Kätzchen?”_ Caleb murmured in Molly’s ear, nuzzling into his hair. It was abnormal for him to be so affectionate where others could see, even in the absence of the Mighty Nein, but based on the spot of color in his cheeks Molly guessed the environment and the alcohol had loosened him up a little.

“Would you?”

“I mean…I would be perfectly happy to just take you home right now but I think we would regret not at least seeing what was going on, ja?” Molly nodded.

“You can always rail me at home later.”

He smirked at the sound of Caleb choking on his drink and the pair made their way to the basement. There were a few twosomes and moresomes just starting to play in different parts of the room, but undoubtedly the most interesting thing going on was the drow couple using one of the wooden crosses. One man was attached to the cross, his legs spread wide and his wrists bound over his head. He was facing out and wearing a creamy white corset that looked delicious on his dark skin, along with a pair of matching stockings and lacy underwear. The other man paced in front of him, a leather whip in hand.

Caleb drew Molly over to one of the couches, a heavenly soft plush loveseat made of coral velvet with white pillows, and sat down, guiding Molly gently down into his lap. Molly sat so his back was propped against the armrest and his legs were extended over Caleb’s thighs, and put his arm around Caleb’s shoulders. Caleb’s fingers danced absentmindedly over Molly’s calves, his other arm slid snug around Molly’s hips.

The man who had been pacing stopped suddenly, and Molly could see the muscles in the restrained man’s thighs twitching, bracing for impact. He tapped the whip against his leg, thinking, and then abruptly unhooked his partner from the cross, spinning him around roughly and strapping him back in, facing the wall.

“I don’t want to look at your face anymore, pretty boy,” he snarled, pressing the bottom’s face against the wall. “You like to show off that ass so much, let’s see how good it looks when I’m done with it.”

With that, the elf began to pace again, deliberately placing his steps so that the other man’s anticipation grew and grew. Suddenly, he lashed out with the whip, landing a blow on his partner’s back. The man on the cross groaned with the impact, but otherwise took it. Molly tried to sneak a few glances at Caleb’s face, remembering how he reacted to the beatings in the book they’d read together, but he couldn’t read anything overt in Caleb’s expression.

“Hey,” Molly whispered, in the silence after a strike. “Is this okay for you?” Caleb nodded and squeezed Molly’s shin.

“Ja, I am fine, thank you.” Molly settled in and relaxed, his arousal growing by the minute watching this scene play out. He imagined the bottom must be aching by now, hard as stone; when the man with the whip unhooked him from the cross, sure enough, his erection was dark and angry, precum staining the delicate fabric of his lingerie.

“On your knees, girlie.” The pretty one - though really, all drow were unreasonably pretty, in Molly’s opinion - dropped to the hard floor immediately, not even wincing at the impact. Molly was impressed; he couldn’t fake it that well. The top switched the whip for a crop and used it to lift his partner’s chin.

“Look at you, getting hard after I beat you. Disgusting. Don’t you agree?”

“Your slave is whatever you say he is,” the bottom said obediently. _Damn, he’s good._ Molly spotted Essek across the room, watching with a curious smile. He lifted his drink to his mouth and saw Molly looking; he let his eyes drag over Molly’s body, far from subtle, and tossed him a wink. Molly felt warmth burst in his chest, quite unexpectedly. He was…kind of attracted to Essek? The cockiness was infuriating but honestly, also pretty hot. And he was stupidly pretty, like most drow Molly had met.

“Out loud, slut, what gets your little dick excited more than anything?” The flushed bottom looked up at his partner adoringly and murmured something Molly couldn’t hear. “Don’t tell me, fool, _I_ know that - why don’t you tell all these people watching you so they know just how filthy you are?” The man on the floor didn’t turn his head, kept his face upturned to his top.

“Worshipping your cock.”

“Show them.”

The man in the corset began feverishly pulling at the laces on the other’s man’s trousers. When his - fairly impressive, Molly thought - thick, dark cock sprang free, his bottom moaned in delight, and his eyes fluttered shut as he knelt quietly for a moment, taking deep breaths, his hands on his partner’s waist. Molly felt Caleb shift a little under him and his erection started to press against Molly’s hip. Molly was getting pretty hot and bothered himself, but he knew Caleb _loved_ blowjobs, giving and receiving, and this scene was definitely turning him on. He was glad that Caleb was relaxed enough in the space to let himself get aroused and encouraged it, lightly wiggling his hips in Caleb’s lap. The bottom opened his eyes, never breaking his gaze from his partner, and started lightly running his fingers over the other man’s length.

“I love how hard your cock gets,” he breathed. “I love it when it’s soft…I love how it feels different as you get harder and harder….”

As the man continued his praise, Caleb started lightly kissing over Molly’s shoulder and neck, delicate, teasing kisses that made Molly purr. Molly’s attention had been fixed on the couple across the room, but he immediately turned in to face Caleb. As soon as his lips met Caleb’s, they might have been entirely alone as far as Molly was concerned. He’d do _anything_ Caleb asked him to, no matter who was watching.

The sounds of other couples playing in other parts of the room - sighs and groans, murmured praise and debasement and commands, skin against skin, the clanking of chains and whisper of leather - formed an incredibly exciting backdrop to their making out. Caleb’s hands were all over Molly, and Molly moaned happily against his mouth when Caleb’s touch ghosted over the bulge between his legs.

“Needy thing,” Caleb whispered as their kisses grew more desperate, nipping Molly’s ear. “What am I to do with you?”

“Anything,” Molly groaned, shifting so he was straddling Caleb’s lap. “Anything you want.” Molly looked behind him to move his tail out from under his leg and noticed that Essek’s attention had also been diverted from the handsome drow couple; he was watching the two of them, arms crossed, with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Is watching them turning you on?” Caleb murmured, continuing to mouth over Molly’s neck and shoulder. He nibbled the mark he’d left on Molly’s skin earlier, gently, but Molly gasped at the tenderness.

“Yes,” Molly whimpered, grinding his hips.

“Do you want to be watched?” Caleb’s tone was teasing, but Molly knew he was asking for his consent to keep going in a public place. They’d agreed they’d try this out, but acknowledged that neither really knew how they’d feel once they were here. Molly felt the same warm glow of security he always felt in his chest when he was with Caleb, comforted that he was checking in. He knew that if he’d said no, Caleb would have either abandoned the ideas they’d discussed before coming here and stuck to making out, or offered to take Molly home to continue, without judgment, without disappointment.

“Yes,” Molly whispered in his ear.

“Stop moving,” Caleb said sternly, fully in his role now and smacking Molly on the ass. Molly whined in protest but stilled his hips. “I know what you are trying to do.”

“Please touch me,” Molly mewled. “Please, I need you…”

“You are not in control here.” Gods, how many times had Molly heard that from him? One million? Molly groaned in frustration but sighed and looked at Caleb beseechingly.

“You are truly shameless, _Kätzchen._ If I brought you upstairs and took you in front of the open windows you would beg me for more.” Molly nodded vigorously and whined. He knew it was only talk but the fantasy was fucking _hot_. “Wouldn’t you? If I pressed you against the glass for everyone to see while I fucked you?”

“Yes, yes,” Molly breathed, rolling his hips again before he remembered he wasn’t supposed to. Caleb’s grip on his waist tightened and he pulled back from whispering in Molly’s ear to look him in the eye.

“What did I tell you?”

“To be still,” Molly mumbled, averting his gaze. Caleb grasped his chin and turned it so he couldn’t look away.

“I have spoiled you far too much,” Caleb sighed. “You seem to think you get to do whatever you like.”

“No, I don’t, I promise….” Caleb smacked his cheek.

“Hush your mouth. Tell me, who put this here?” Caleb pressed down on the bruise on Molly’s shoulder with two fingers, hard. Molly gritted his teeth at the pain that burst out from it, his cock twitching with need.

“You did,” he managed.

“That’s right. Smart _Kätzchen._ And why did I do that?”

“Because I belong to you.”

“Ja, you do. Show me you know it, or you will not cum tonight.”

Molly was approaching desperation and Caleb had hardly touched him. The threat of not finishing, after a week of denial, was powerful and Molly immediately dropped to his knees on the floor. The human looked surprised for a second at how quickly that worked, but then smiled in satisfaction.

“Can I please you?” Molly asked, putting on his best bedroom eyes and rubbing his cheek against Caleb’s knee. “Please, sir?”

“Please me how, Kitten?” Caleb teased, running his hand through Molly’s hair.

“Let me suck you off,” he begged, his tail thumping on the floor beside him. “Please let me.”

“Since you asked so nicely.” Molly pushed Caleb’s shirt up to kiss at his stomach, quickly undoing the laces on his trousers, eager to demonstrate how much he wanted to. And gods, did he want to. He loved doing this, but the eyes on him were intoxicating. He saw out of the corner of his eye a few people looking at them, stroking off or teasing their partners while they watched. Molly liked being watched, but he kept his eyes firmly on Caleb, the only person whose opinion of him mattered.

Molly nuzzled into the soft hair on Caleb’s stomach, inhaling his familiar scent, and kissed over his still covered length. He kept a close eye on Caleb’s face, looking for any hesitation or discomfort about being exposed, but his focus was entirely on Molly, and he was relaxed and smiling. Molly drew out Caleb’s cock and immediately started laying wet, open mouthed kisses over it, before the human had time to think too hard about having spectators.

He sucked on Caleb’s tip and was rewarded with a heady sigh, and his lover let his head fall back on the couch, hand still carding through Molly’s hair. Molly ran his hands over Caleb’s torso, slipping under his shirt to graze over his nipples, as he took the rest of him into his mouth, moaning in delight. His eyes drifted shut and the rest of the room was dead to him, nothing else mattered but the weight of Caleb in his mouth, the scent of him filling Molly’s nose, the beautiful sounds of Caleb’s pleasure, soft and restrained though they were.

Molly knew he was good at this, and it didn’t take very long for Caleb to start breathing heavier, gripping the arm of the couch, clearly trying to stave off the inevitable. Molly hummed in satisfaction and didn’t let up, practically fucking his own throat on Caleb’s dick. He let his fingers drift over Caleb’s stomach, ran his nails over the soft skin of his inner thighs. After a few minutes of this, Caleb’s muscles started to tense under Molly’s arms, his abdomen tightening - Molly knew his tells by now - and Molly pulled off, stroking mercilessly and squeezing his eyes shut. Caleb groaned and Molly felt his muscles spasm as his hot release hit Molly’s cheek and dripped down over his collarbone. Once he felt the last shot of cum hit his face and neck, Molly cautiously opened his eyes, and saw Caleb breathless, staring down at him. His face was bright red and gods, he looked radiant. (It occurred to Molly that he always thought Caleb looked radiant after he came. Perhaps his ego was getting the better of him.)

“What a good boy you are, _Kätzchen,_ ” Caleb panted, stroking Molly’s hair. He lifted a hand and began the motions for Prestidigitation, but Molly reached up stopped him.

“Leave it?” He asked softly, smiling up at Caleb. The human’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and he flushed darker.

“I-if you like.”

Molly beamed and bent down again, kissing gradually down Caleb’s legs until he reached his knees.

“Let me show you how glad I am to be the one kneeling at your feet tonight,” Molly purred, and kept going until his face was down by the floor. The warm slickness on his face was starting to dry little by little, making sure Molly couldn’t forget it was there. He was rock hard thinking about what he must look like right now, cum splattered over his face and neck, nuzzling against the toe of Caleb’s boot. _Devoted._ That’s how he must look.

“I think it quite suits him, don’t you?” A familiar voice, dripping with amusement, sounded above him. Molly looked up and saw Essek standing behind Caleb, leaning on the back of the couch. Caleb blushed even deeper red than before, and Essek’s hand drifted down to his shoulder.

“And giving it to him quite suited you.”

Caleb looked between Essek and Molly, seemingly paralyzed with uncertainty. Molly winked at Essek in encouragement - this was going in a direction he very much wanted it to - and began kissing over the soft leather of Caleb’s boot. He stroked Caleb’s calf, ran his fingers over the silver buckles, and looked up at the pair through his lashes.

“Are you enjoying yourself, _Kätzchen?_ ” Caleb asked, his attention fixed on Molly again. Molly grinned and placed obscene, open mouthed kisses over Caleb’s ankle and up his calf. He got distracted sucking on one of the buckles when he felt hot pressure, tinged with an edge of pain, shoot up his torso. An embarrassingly loud moan tore from Molly’s throat and he clutched the foot pressing on his balls, holding it there. Fuck, he wanted to feel that boot on him without any stupid clothes getting in the way-

“I asked you a question.” Caleb leaned forward, elbows on his knees, increasing the pressure between Molly’s legs.

“Yes, gods, fuck, I am, I am,” Molly choked out.

“You look so pretty with your face painted like that,” Caleb murmured, leaning back and letting up his boot - though he kept it there, no pressure, just caressing Molly’s aching erection with the ball of his foot. “Sweet, slutty boy. Look at you. In front of all these people, with cum on your face, and you’re hard just from kissing my boots?” Molly’s tail swished back and forth behind him and he ground his hips against Caleb, panting and desperate in his bid for friction.

Suddenly, Caleb pulled his foot back and crossed one leg over the other with a stern look. He grabbed one of the pillows from the couch and tossed it down between Molly’s legs.

“If you want to hump like an animal, here you are. You will not _use_ me to get off, you needy brat. I do not want your filth on my boots.” Molly furrowed his brow in confusion. “Go on, Kitten, you want to finish yourself off so badly.” He saw Molly’s expression and must have mistaken it for hesitation, because he leaned forward immediately, both feet on the ground, and placed a hand on Molly’s shoulder.

“Green?” Caleb whispered, searching Molly’s face. Molly beamed and nodded.

“Yes, absolutely.”

With that, Molly opened his pants, just the motion of his fingers against his straining cock enough to make him hiss in a breath. His eyes still on Caleb, though they had several observers at this point, Molly gripped the pillow between his thighs and started rolling his hips against it. The friction was maddeningly light, not nearly what he needed, but knowing Caleb was watching every move, every muscle twitch in his face, more than made up for the less than optimal physical stimulation. It was abjectly humiliating to be told to get himself off like this, and he was loving every second of it.

It took him a moment to get the angle just right, the pace and rhythm, but when he did, he looked back up, and the view he was greeted with was spectacular. Essek’s hand was fisted in Caleb’s red hair and they were kissing fiercely, like they’d never come up for air. Essek’s tongue explored Caleb’s mouth with abandon and he could see from here how it slid between his lover’s lips. Molly was entranced, his masturbation suddenly far more effective with this delicious sight in front of him.

It wasn’t long before his thrusts turned more desperate, less graceful, and the noises he was making were beyond undignified as he grunted with the effort. The wizards above him were entangled in one another’s mouths, but when Caleb broke away to look down at him, the pure _want_ in his eyes was enough for Molly to keep going.

“You must be close, Kitten,” Caleb teased. “Are you going to spill your filth all over one of Essek’s nice pillows?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Molly gasped, still working his hips in short, dirty thrusts.

“Go on then,” he ordered.

Molly’s orgasm took him by surprise, though it was almost cruelly unsatisfying, not even close to what he wanted and the friction too light to get him anything really good. Still, especially after a week of denial, the combined physical and mental stimulation forced the climax out of him, and he shuddered through it with a gasp of relief.

“Are you ready to be good now that you have gotten that out of the way?” Caleb asked. Molly grinned up at him, still breathing hard. Caleb couldn’t resist leaning forward and running his hand through Molly’s hair with a smirk.

“Everyone looking must be sure now that you are spoiled,” he murmured, cupping Molly’s cheek. “You certainly have me wrapped around your little finger, don’t you, _Kätzchen_?”

He pressed a kiss to Molly’s forehead and leaned back. Molly sat back on his heels and looked up at Caleb, who cleaned Molly’s face and the pillow with a subtle gesture. Molly sat stock still, even trying to keep his tail calm, in a show of submission and obediencethat he genuinely felt. Whatever Caleb wanted from him next, he was more than ready to fulfill it. Essek was watching him with a hungry smile and turned his attention back to Caleb.

“You’ve trained him well,” Essek mused, his hand resting on Caleb’s shoulder.

“Mollymauk is a fast learner,” Caleb replied, breaking Essek’s gaze to look down at Molly, smiling proudly. “This is simply one among his talents.”

A thrill shook Molly to his core. Caleb was bragging about _him._ To _Essek._ A man whom Caleb admired and whom Molly felt utterly scorned by, and the tiny part of his brain that wasn’t consumed by lust reminded him that no matter how Essek was looking at him now, that was still true. Fucking him would probably just confirm his preconceived notion that there was nothing to Molly but a pretty face. Still…Molly wanted to absolutely _ruin_ this stupidly perfect man. He wanted Essek to look at him flushed and debauched and ready to beg. For him to recognize that even if he thought that most of what Molly had to offer was in the bedroom, his skills in that department were unparalleled.

“I might like to see some of those talents for myself,” Essek breathed, his eyes dark and wanting. “If you were both…amenable.”

Caleb immediately looked to Molly, who nodded and smiled, encouraging. Caleb searched his expression carefully and then turned slowly back to Essek.

“Ja, okay.” A grin slowly spread over Essek’s face.

“In that case, let me escort you to my private rooms.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SWEAR I'm not trying to string you guys along, this was just...already unwieldy at 8300 words and there was enough smut I felt justified in splitting it into two parts and posting the first part now. Part 2 of the party will be along soon but for now, enjoy! And seriously I sound like a broken record but thank you for the continued kudos and comments! It really is all so encouraging and helps me finish new chapters. :)


	8. you're stirring from your slumber

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Your patience is rewarded with 10k of filth!
> 
> (Mein zierlicher = my petite)
> 
> If you want to skip the threesome, search for "good night, Essek".

“Is there anything you would like to retrieve from the armoire before we take our leave?” Essek asked, looking primarily at Caleb.

“Ah, ja, if that is alright, or if…you perhaps, have anything you would like to bring?” Essek whispered in Caleb’s ear and the wizard blushed; Molly grinned and his tail slapped the floor in his excitement.

He didn’t know what to expect here. Essek was unreadable in terms of how he might behave in bed. Molly wanted to tie up the smug bastard and make him forget his own name, but he wasn’t sure that his companions were thinking along those lines. His imagination ran through several combinations: him topping for the both of them, he and Caleb topping Essek together, or him bottoming for Caleb and Essek - there were loads of possibilities, and all of them sounded delicious to Molly. He could take a man apart just as easily from above or below.

While Caleb was at the cabinet, wrapping a few things up in a cloth that Molly couldn’t see, Essek made his way to the front of the couch and sat, smirking at Molly.

“My, Mollymauk, you look good enough to eat,” Essek cooed. He tucked a curl behind one of Molly’s horns. “Caleb was smart to snap you up before someone else did.”

“I think you’ll find the snapping up went in the other direction,” Molly scoffed, before he could help himself. Essek raised an eyebrow and laughed.

“That is unsurprising. I should be praising you, then, it seems. The two of you are simply delightful together.” Molly smiled, surprised at Essek’s compliment.

“Thank you. That’s…kind of you to say.” Just then, Caleb returned with a small bundle wrapped in black cloth, shifting back and forth nervously. Essek stood and wordlessly guided them both to the staircase. On the way past, Molly caught a glimpse of Baeolin, stripped down to a pastel pink silk slip and her black heeled boots. She grinned at the three of them and put her hand up to signal to her husband that she was stepping away; Ranavir didn’t seem to mind, enthralled as he was with the handjob he was giving to a lanky drow reclining on the bed with him.

“Essek Thelyss, you naughty thing,” she teased, drifting over to them. “Whisking away the new guests before anyone else has a crack at them? For shame, sweetheart.” Essek chuckled.

“The host has such privileges, no?” Baeolin rolled her eyes.

“Is this your clever way of getting me to host next time?”

“Well, I would not object…” Baeolin turned her attention to Molly and Caleb.

“Do try to keep him in line. He’s a right brat when he wants to be.” She fixed her gaze on Caleb and grinned, drawing a finger down the column of his throat. Molly saw Caleb swallow thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing against her touch. “I do hope we will get a chance to see you and your pet again sometime soon, Mister Widogast.”

“J-ja, certainly.” Caleb’s wide-eyed, nervous expression was back. Baeolin let her finger drift just slightly under the neck of his shirt and searched his expression with a satisfied smile.

“I thought as much.” She patted Caleb’s cheek, which was flaming red. “Have fun, sweethearts, don’t let Essek here get away with too much. Good night, love, thank you for hosting.” She gave Essek a quick peck on the cheek. “I suspect I won’t be seeing you again tonight.” With that, she turned back to her husband, who was in the middle of sucking off the man he’d been stroking before.

As the three ascended the staircase, Molly again, heroically, kept his teasing to himself.

“Baeolin is a lovely woman,” Essek said. “She can be…a bit much, if you are not accustomed to such a personality. I apologize if her presence was, ah, overwhelming.”

“Nein, ah, no, she was fine,” Caleb mumbled, his face still warm and flushed. “Just…forward. Unexpected.” Essek laughed.

“Yes, she is not known for her subtlety, in matters private or public. Her dynamism is part of why we are such excellent friends. She is very much the opposite of me. I prefer to get what I want in a more…roundabout fashion. Baeolin is hell on wheels whether it’s a whip or a war map in her hand.”

Just then, they arrived at what Molly took to be Essek’s rooms, beautifully decorated in forest green and silver. He was surprised, however, by the lack of luxury in the bedroom compared to Essek’s public space. The furniture was clearly well made, the linens soft and comfortable, but there was no excess of aesthetic, nothing truly decorative or lavish. He filed that away to think about later.

Essek unclasped his mantle and draped it over an armchair seated near the fire. Underneath, he was wearing a rich brown silk top and black leggings, clearly designed for comfort over formality. Perhaps Molly had sized him up too quickly, in assuming his public presence matched his interior. Once on the ground, it was clear that Essek was shorter than both of them, which somehow surprised Molly. Caleb cleared his throat as Molly plopped himself down on the edge of the bed.

“I would like to discuss a few things, before we…begin anything.”

It didn’t take long for the three to establish a set of rules they were all comfortable with - Caleb had some unique boundaries, Molly knew, but he built a broad fence around those with vagaries and Essek accepted them without question. Essek was amenable to their “red, yellow, green” safety system and asked both of them to promise to be discreet about this evening, given his delicate and political position in the Queen’s court.

Caleb looked shyly over at Essek, who was still near the armchair where he had placed his mantle.

“If there is nothing else that must be discussed, ah, is there any preference you have, Essek, for what you would like to do?” Essek smiled lazily and sauntered over to where Caleb was standing, grabbing a handful of his shirt to pull him down to Essek’s level. The drow leaned in until their mouths were so close, Molly could practically feel them brush against one another.

“I want you to _wreck_ me, Mister Widogast.”

Caleb groaned and closed the distance, taking Essek’s mouth in a burning kiss. Essek held his hand out towards Molly, continuing to kiss Caleb; arousal started to flow through Molly again, heating his veins, and he stood to approach the pair. Essek clutched at Molly’s waist and turned away from Caleb only to seal his mouth to Molly’s hungrily. Essek’s lips were soft as silk, his kisses forceful yet restrained. He opened for Molly’s tongue and practically pulled it in with his own, the taste of him, sweet anise and cloves, filling Molly’s mouth.

Molly was dizzy with lust, two mouths to kiss and lick and nip, two pairs of hands wandering, two bodies to touch and rub and hold. It was almost overwhelming, in the best possible way. Eventually, loathe as he was to break away from either of these gorgeous men, Molly pulled Essek against him, sandwiching him between himself and Caleb.

Bending to reach all the places he wanted to on Essek was proving challenging, so Molly took initiative and guided him back towards the bed, where he could sit as Essek stood between his legs. When Molly finally closed his teeth around a patch of smooth dark skin on Essek’s elegant neck, the elf sighed lustily and let his head fall back against Caleb’s chest. Molly sucked harder, wanting to pull that noise out again, and was rewarded with another, Essek’s fingers tangling in Molly’s hair as he devoured any unmarked bit of skin he could get his lips on.

Caleb was just as attentive, holding Essek against him as he slid his hands over Essek’s narrow waist, up under his shirt. The human paused his exploration of Essek’s body for a brief moment to lean in and kiss Molly, his mouth bright and beautiful and excited. Molly hummed in approval and nipped him as they parted; his cock was already interested again.

Molly’s lips followed Caleb’s fingers as they pushed Essek’s shirt up, revealing perfect blue-black skin, unmarred by scars, so unlike either of theirs.

“You’re gorgeous, Essek,” Molly breathed, pressing soft kisses over smooth, hairless skin. As soon as his mouth found a peaked indigo nipple, Essek gasped and writhed. Molly grinned and sucked harder, his tongue teasing the sensitive bud. Caleb drew his nails over Essek’s stomach and up to his chest; he took Essek’s other nipple between two fingers and tugged at it roughly, biting down on the elf’s neck as he did so.

“He’s so sensitive,” Caleb murmured, making mischievous eye contact with Molly.

“Delightful,” Molly responded, his hands roaming over Essek’s torso. Essek was panting between them already, his erection obvious and pressing against Molly’s, which was growing steadily.

“Are you this sensitive everywhere, Shadowhand?” Molly teased, gripping Essek’s hips, but Essek put a hand firmly on Molly’s head.

“Not in here,” was all he said, his tone sharp. Molly reached up and laced his fingers in Essek’s, drawing the hand down to press light kisses over it.

“Understood,” he breathed, brushing his lips over Essek’s knuckles. “But I’m still curious, _Essek_ , are you always this responsive in bed? Or is this only for us?” Molly caught Essek’s gaze and drew two of Essek’s fingers to his mouth, sucking and running his tongue between them, the gesture far too unsubtle to be called suggestive. Essek answered with a moan, unable to take his eyes off Molly’s tongue.

“Mmmm, I think he’s very excited to see us, don’t you, Caleb?”

“I do not know,” Caleb replied with a smirk, still mouthing over Essek’s neck from behind. “I think he’s just desperate to get fucked.” Caleb reached around grabbed Essek between the legs; Molly shuddered, remembering the night he’d come to Caleb to discuss making an arrangement, how Caleb had done that to him, right before telling Molly that he would learn to control his desires. Essek’s knees almost gave out from under him, and Molly held him by the hips as his body sagged.

“Easy, now,” Molly tutted. “I know his hands are talented, but we’ve hardly started with you.” Caleb flushed and buried his face in Essek’s shoulder to hide his embarrassed smile. _That’s cute._ Molly could see Caleb’s fingers working even over the layers, finding Essek’s tip and thumbing over it as he stroked Essek’s clothed cock. He couldn’t blame Essek. That man’s fingers were weapons. Molly couldn’t wait to see Essek’s face when he got them inside him. Caleb leaned around Essek and took Molly’s mouth in a hot, claiming kiss.

“ _Kätzchen,_ why don’t you show our friend here that your mouth is good for more than flattery, ja?”

Molly’s tail thumped on the bed. Oh he liked this very much. He dropped to his knees right away, purring, as Caleb lifted Essek’s shirt up over his head. Molly kissed gently over Essek’s taut stomach, dipping his tongue just below the waistband of his leggings, making Essek hiss in a breath. Caleb held Essek securely against his chest, lavishing attention over Essek’s now bare shoulders with his mouth.

Essek tangled his fingers in Molly’s hair and groaned, pushing his head closer to where he wanted it. Molly nipped at Essek’s hip as he worked Essek’s pants down around his ankles. Essek’s cock was, like the rest of him, perfect. Molly wanted to roll his eyes, because of _course_ not even this man’s dick would be anything less than the ideal, but even he had enough self awareness not to do something like that in a moment like this. It was a bit smaller than what Molly was used to, but seemed fairly average in proportion to Essek.

“You’re perfect, darling,” Molly cooed, kissing lightly over silky skin. “I can really have fun with you. When Caleb fucks my mouth I’m too busy fearing for my life to really enjoy it.” He looked up at his lover with a wicked grin and winked, tickling the back of Caleb’s leg with his tail to make it clear he was teasing. “But hopefully you’ll get to try that out for yourself.”

“You know I love your filthy mouth, _Kätzchen_ , but I do not think conversation was the instruction you were given, was it?” Caleb reached around and gripped one of Molly’s horns with a satisfied smile. “Do I have to do all the work?”

“Please!” Molly exclaimed. He hadn’t thought about the possibility of Caleb using his mouth to please someone else, but as soon as he felt Caleb’s touch and the image came to his mind, he desperately wanted it. He opened up and licked torturously slow up Essek’s length, sure that his swollen, wet lips made a delicious sight as Essek’s tip slid over them. Caleb wrapped one arm around Essek’s chest, holding him close, and kept the other hand on Molly’s horn.

“Tap my leg if you need to stop,” Caleb ordered, and then Molly’s mouth was full of Essek, his weight and scent and smoothness. Molly was in heaven, and from the strangled moan that he heard above him, Essek was too. He let his jaw go slack, careful to cover his sharp canines with his lips, and let Caleb guide him, slow at first, then, as Essek’s hips started thrusting forward, the two found a rhythm. Molly rested on his heels and lost himself in the sensation, Essek’s delightful cock plunging into his mouth and hitting the back of his throat at a punishing pace. Essek was crying out and gasping above him, and Molly heard his own noises too, as he gagged on his moans of pleasure when Essek’s cock pushed in deep. He let himself be tugged around by Caleb’s grip on his horn and listened to the sweet praises spilling from above him,

“That’s it, Kitten, make him feel good, show him how pretty you look with your mouth full…”

“Fuck, Mollymauk, fuck, yes, yes, yes, please, gods, I’m - I’m- gods, I’m not going to last-“

Molly grabbed Essek’s hips and yanked him forward, swallowing him down to the root and humming happily. Essek’s hips thrust forward sharply and the elf cried out, burying himself in Molly’s hot velvet throat as he came, legs shaking. Molly pulled back and let Essek’s tip rest on his tongue, still twitching and leaking the last remnants of his orgasm. He made eye contact with the hazy, weak-kneed drow as he sucked down the last of it. Essek looked even better than Molly had imagined; his perfect hair was in disarray, and though it was hard to discern a flush under his creamy dark skin, his panting and blown pupils were more than enough to tell Molly how much he was enjoying himself.

Ten minutes on his knees and Molly had torn Essek’s carefully crafted composure to shreds. He valiantly held back the urge to smirk.

“You know, I seem to recall being told patience was a virtue,” Molly sniped, looking up at Caleb, a challenge written on his face. “Like waiting to cum until I’m told.” Caleb frowned at Molly.

“You were also taught that obedience is a virtue, and so is remembering your place,” he said sharply. “Do not make me put you over my knee, Mollymauk.” Molly shivered in delight at the thought and hopped up on the bed, pulling Essek in for a kiss.

“I’m just saying,” he continued, against his better judgment, “a little lesson in endurance probably would do a soul good.” He raised an eyebrow at Essek, who grinned back at him, arms resting loosely on Molly’s shoulders.

“Are you appealing to my competitive nature, Mister Tealeaf?”

“I’m suggesting an activity I think you’d enjoy, as I happen to know what it’s like to be on the receiving end of it, and trust me, I’m doing you a favor,” Molly murmured, pecking Essek on the lips again. Caleb flushed. Molly knew that Caleb didn’t know how to accept praise, no matter how anodyne, but if Caleb could brag about him, he could brag about Caleb.

“Would you like something like that? I’m asking because I don’t know exactly what you _like_ , darling,” Molly whispered, nuzzling against the elf in between slow, languid kisses. “Does that sound good? Showing him how good you can be, how much self-control you have? Letting him test it?”

“He already has,” Essek replied, his gaze drawn away momentarily as Caleb stepped over to the couch by the fire to start undressing.

“Looks good tonight, no? You’re welcome.” Molly gave Essek a toothy grin and a saucy wink.

“You have excellent taste,” Essek mumbled against Molly’s mouth. Molly was fully recovered by now, hard and sensitive against the hot, wriggling drow practically seated in his lap.

“As much as I hate to interrupt you two,” a smooth Zemnian voice interjected, “I would like to get around to tying up our gracious host.”

“Well that’s far too tempting an offer to miss out on, as much as I would love to sit here and kiss you all night long,” Molly teased. “How can I help?” This he directed over his shoulder at Caleb, who was in the process of attaching lengths of rope to the posts at the head of the bed. The human looked up.

“Show him how to kneel.”

“I know how-“ Essek shut his mouth with one warning glance from Caleb. Molly was more than a little satisfied to see Essek put in his place with just a look, even if it wasn’t from him.

“Go on, then,” Molly said, gesturing to the foot of the bed with a nod. Essek climbed up, kneeling primly on the mattress, his hands laid symmetrically on his thighs.

“Not quite slutty enough,” Molly said, slapping Essek on the ass. Essek chuckled in surprise and pulled Molly in for another kiss. “Being sweet won’t stop me from fixing your form, darling.”

Molly put his hand on the back of Essek’s shoulders and guided him down until his chest was flat on the bed. He spread Essek’s thighs apart to seat him more comfortably, and gave him another smack on the ass.

“How’s that feel? Comfortable?”

“Yes,” Essek sighed. Molly grinned. He recognized that sweet haze that was creeping over Essek.

“Like you could hold it for a little while?” Caleb asked.

“Yes…”

“Good.” Caleb knelt down beside the bed to be face to face with Essek and gestured for Molly to lean in. He stroked Essek’s hair, keeping a close eye on his face as he explained the order of activities for the evening and asked Essek for his approval.

“Fucking hells, Caleb,” Essek groaned, burying his face in the mattress. “Yes, yes to all of it, gods…” Caleb kissed his forehead.

“If you change your mind, you know what to say.” He stepped over to Molly and drew him in for a kiss. “Is that good for you too, _Kätzchen?_ ” Molly nodded, beaming. Caleb kissed him again, warm and wanting. “I have a few surprises in store for you, baby, jf you do not mind.” Molly shuddered.

“I like surprises,” he purred, running his hands over Caleb’s bare chest.

“I know you do. Help me tie his wrists?” Molly went to work on Essek’s right side as Caleb carefully bound the left. Caleb checked the ties and then stood next to the bed, admiring the delicious splayed out figure of Essek, hands outstretched, his legs folded under him in a kneeling position with his thighs spread wide, pushing his ass up into the air. He looked like a painting. A slutty, begging painting. Molly sat on the end of the bed, running his hands over Essek’s round ass, kneading it in his palms.

“This position really suits you,” he teased. Caleb gave Molly a warning smack on his backside as he passed.

“I will gag you if I need to, Kitten.”

“Yes, sir,” Molly mumbled sheepishly. Caleb pulled two creamy white wax candles from the bundle he’d taken from the basement armoire and held them where Essek could see.

“Now, what are these, _mein zierlicher_?”

“Candles,” Essek replied.

“Smart boy. You asked me to bring these up here, did you not?”

“Yes?”

“It seems you must really want me to use them then.”

“Yes,” Essek repeated, his voice a little more trepidatious now that he seemed to see where this was going.

“Hmm…I’m not sure you _really_ want them.”

“No, I do,” Essek whined, wiggling against his binds.

“Do you?”

“Yes, yes, please, sir, please, use them on me…” Caleb tutted.

“I am certain you can beg more prettily than that. Perhaps I should give them to Molly, he knows how to ask for what he wants.” Molly bit back a smirk, stroking as much of Essek as he could reach.

“No, I want them, I really do,” Essek moaned. “Please let me have them, let me show you how good I can be, I’ll do anything you want…”

“That’s much better,” Caleb praised, cupping Essek’s cheek in his hand. “ _Kätzchen,_ take the oil and rub it on his back for me. Get your chest while you are at it, ja?”

Molly purred and jumped up to obey. He loved the way Essek’s skin felt under his hands, so unmarred compared to his. Warming the oil in his hands, he poured a small pool on Essek’s back, eliciting a sigh of contentment from the elf. He added a little pressure as he rubbed the oil over Essek’s skin, massaging the muscles in his back. He was surprised - and yet really, not surprised at all - how knotted Essek’s shoulders were. They felt like stones under his hands.

“For shame, darling, you really must get someone to work the tension out of your back,” Molly chastised gently. Essek scoffed.

“You are the first to even see me out of my mantle in quite some time.”

“Lot of weight on those shoulders, ja, Essek?” Caleb asked softly.

“The bending over books hours on end certainly doesn’t help matters,” the elf grumbled.

Idly, Molly wondered if Caleb’s shoulders were this tense. He was high strung like Essek, in all circumstances that didn’t involve a naked Molly, and he curled over his desk all day like he’d absorb the information better if the tip of his nose was touching the pages. Molly thought he really ought to insist that Caleb take a long soak sometime soon and convince him to let Molly have at the kinks in his neck. He felt a little ashamed for not thinking of it sooner.

“Well, you don’t need to think about any of that here,” Molly soothed. “We’re going to take care of you. Just relax.”

Essek sighed and melted into Molly’s touch, and he gave Caleb a questioning look that he hoped communicated his desire to keep going at this for a few minutes before they moved on. Caleb seemed to be on the same page and nodded, coming behind Molly to run calloused fingers up and down his spine.

“That’s it,” Molly whispered, continuing his slow strokes. Caleb held out his palm and Molly poured a little oil into it. He felt Caleb’s hand slide up over his stomach and rub slowly, maddeningly slowly, sending the fire of arousal burning through Molly’s core. He tried not to let up on his massage of Essek’s back but was finding it increasingly difficult as Caleb’s touch, heightened by the slippery oil, crept up over his stomach, his ribs. He groaned loudly when Caleb’s slick fingers found a nipple and leaned back into the human’s chest, shivering as Caleb’s lips brushed over the mark on his shoulder.

“So gorgeous, _Schatz_ ,” Caleb breathed, and warmth coiled in Molly’s belly. He purred in contentment and stretched his head back to reach Caleb’s mouth for a kiss, sensual and unhurried.

“Ready, darling?” Molly asked Essek when they broke apart. The elf only hummed in response.

“Next to him, on your back,” Caleb ordered. Molly obeyed, settling down on his back, under one of Essek’s outstretched arms. Essek immediately tried to lean in for a kiss, and Molly made up the distance, wrapping an arm around Essek’s neck and pulling him in.

He was still kissing Essek when the first drop of hot wax hit his skin. Molly gasped and arched up in surprise as the first searing spot of pain quickly cooled.

“Was that a good sound or a bad sound?” Caleb asked cautiously.

“Good, fucking _great_ ,” Molly managed. Essek, relaxed and foggy and submissive, whined with want.

“Ah, you want too, _mein zierlicher?”_

“Yes, please, please, I’m all yours to play with,” Essek groaned. Caleb grinned.

“That is what I like to hear.”

Molly felt Essek tense and then shudder as the first dribbles of wax hit his back. His own muscles tensed and released over and over again as his body anticipated the next drips would be his, but they were on Essek again. Essek let out a wrecked moan, and Molly captured his mouth with his own and lost himself to the beautifully sensual feelings. His chest was alight with bright spots of pain that cooled into soothing warmth, Essek’s tongue was working over his jaw and Caleb was watching the two of them make out, which made every point of contact between him and Essek even hotter.

“What good boys,” Caleb purred. “Taking what you get without complaint.”

The anticipation and tensing built up quickly for Molly, especially when the first drops of wax landed on his nipples, a sunburst of pleasure and pain so intense he let out a sob. The waiting, feeling and hearing Essek take the pain, was making Molly painfully hard and gods, he needed to be inside this man. The wax was layering into a sensual warm feeling rather than pain, and Molly’s skin felt hypersensitive to any touch, the breath of Essek on his shoulder, Caleb’s fingers running over Molly’s thigh as he walked around the edges of the bed. Every sensation was heightened, and Molly was floating in the haze of pleasure brought on by even the slightest brush of sheets against his skin.

Essek’s whines went up in pitch and Molly moaned with delight when he propped himself up and saw Caleb making patterns on Essek’s delicious ass with the dripping wax. With that, Caleb put out the candle and leaned down to kiss them both, murmuring praises against their lips.

“How do you feel, Kitten, good? Ready for more?” He asked, nuzzling against Molly’s nose.

“Yes, gods, please, I’m so ready! I want to fuck him so bad, baby…”

“You too, Essek?”

“I feel amazing,” the elf slurred, his face smushed into the mattress, his lids heavy. Caleb cast a spell and removed the wax from both of them, running his hands over the acres of skin spread out in front of him.

“Beautiful, both of you.” Caleb perched over Molly, mouthing at his neck. “Molly, I have something for you. Open Essek up for me while I get it.”

“I’m so ready for you,” Molly breathed, cupping the back of Caleb’s head in his hand. “I need you, baby, please…”

“You have me, _Schatz_ ,” Caleb murmured. The words sent a strange burst of…something…through his chest. Panic? Want? Caleb flushed darker and pulled away, clearing his throat. Molly fought the urge to replay that phrase and pushed it out of his mind, along with the dizzy giddiness that washed over him in the moment. Instead of thinking about whatever _that_ was, Molly knelt behind Essek and ran his hands over the firm muscle of his ass, spreading.him and kneading the flesh.

“You’re gorgeous, darling,” Molly purred, grinning. He felt Caleb’s hand on his hip from behind and shivered at the touch, his skin still sensitive from the wax.

“Is this where I find out what surprise you have in store for me?” Caleb put a hand over Molly’s eyes.

“Ja. If you don’t like it, just say the word.” Molly tensed in anticipation, waiting - and then he felt it, the white hot pain pleasure that radiated through his whole body, causing him to gasp and arch back into Caleb’s chest.

“Oh, fuck, yes, _please_!” Molly choked,writhing. Essek craned his neck to see and hummed in approval as Caleb secured the other clamp over Molly’s pierced nipple. The heavy chain dangled down to his navel, tugging at his nipples in a way that was just on the knife’s edge of too much.

“You know how I like you all prettied up for me,” Caleb whispered, removing his hand from Molly’s eyes. Molly whined and leaned further back into the touch, wriggling under Caleb’s hands roving over his chest, tugging at the chain.

“I have a surprise for you too, darling,” Molly murmured. He could feel Caleb’s erection pressing into his back and he wanted to show him so badly, but resisted the urge, instead canting his hips back, teasing.

“Well get to it, naughty boy, I gave you an instruction,” Caleb growled in his ear, giving his chain a last little tug before shoving him off. Molly bent over Essek, every slight little movement sending another shockwave of pure, overwhelming pleasure through him. He truly wasn’t sure he would last like this.

“Your perfect little ass looks so inviting,” Molly teased in Essek’s ear. “May I have a taste for myself?”

Essek moaned under him and stretched out, trying to spread his legs further. Molly grinned and settled in behind Essek, bent forward on his knees with his thighs spread. He pushed Essek’s cheeks apart and gazed at the sweet, bare, indigo pucker peeking out with a deep purr. _Gods, even his asshole is perfect._ Molly wasted no time, licking a broad path over his hole and eliciting a startled gasp that descended into a guttural groan.

“Does that feel good?” Molly asked innocently.

“Yes! Oh gods…yes, it does…”

“Oh I’m sure I can do better than that.” Molly went straight for his target, using the tip of his tongue to trace light, mean little circles over Essek’s rim. Essek swore and grasped at air, unable to move his wrists and ground himself on something. He pushed his hips back into Molly, and Molly cupped his ass in his hands to get deeper. Essek was practically riding his face, even from this position, and he was loving it. This arrogant, demanding man, used to getting what he wanted, was using him, and at the same time, was desperate and dripping for him. It was hot as all fucking hell, and Molly wasn’t much better off. He leaned into Essek’s needy rolling hips, shifting forward and putting his ass a little higher in the air.

A low, choked moan from behind him told him Caleb had finally spotted the metal plug nestled between Molly’s cheeks, holding him open, pressing him in all the right spots. He’d opened himself and worn it as a surprise for Caleb, and he was very, very glad he had. Then it was his turn to let out a shocked groan, shuddering through his entire body when Caleb started stroking his tail.

“What a good boy you are, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb groaned, palming Molly’s ass. “Such a smart Kitten, so eager to please me, ja?”

“Yes, I did it just for you,” Molly whimpered. Caleb leaned over him from behind and wrapped a warm hand around his throat.

“I am going to _ruin_ you tonight, _Schatz_.”

Molly couldn’t help the _keen_ he let out at those incredibly hot words, and buried his face between Essek’s legs again with renewed vigor, taking out his desperate desire to have his own ass played with on Essek’s. The elf was in no position to complain, panting and crying out with every move of Molly’s tongue inside him, his thighs quaking under Molly’s arms. He wrapped one of his arms more securely around Essek’s slim hips and slicked his finger; when he started circling Essek’s hole, the dark pucker fluttered under his touch, trying to grab him and pull him in.

“Such a needy thing tonight,” Molly tutted, though his own voice was a little too wrecked to be convincing. “Your ass wants me so bad, doesn’t it, Essek?”

“Ohhh, fuck, yes-“

“You know, it makes me think maybe you’ve thought about this before tonight.” He lightened his touch, just ghosting over slick and sensitive skin. “Maybe you’ve fingered yourself or ridden one of those gorgeous toys you have downstairs, thinking about us?” Essek whimpered and ground his hips back into Molly’s hand, trying to get more.

“I have, I have….”

“Oh, filthy boy,” Caleb moaned, up at the head of the bed. His eyes were lit with want and when they landed on Molly, he whined as a thrill of desire shot through his veins.

“Let’s see,” Molly hummed, pushing his finger into Essek, for which he was rewarded with a throaty groan. It was a tight fit, but he could be patient. He rubbed Essek’s walls gently, stretching him just a little bit at a time.

“Why don’t I see if I can guess what Essek thinks about when he’s up here all alone at night?” Molly continued. He winked at Caleb, who had finally fully undressed and was just starting to run his fingers over his length. “Perhaps you’ve wondered what a tiefling cock looks like, hmm? I’m sure you’ve heard all the stories, flaring ridges and whatnot…maybe you thought about me stroking you off, while you stroked me?” Essek whined and pushed his hips back into Molly more.

“Hmm…you’ve seen our dear friend here at work on his spells so you _know_ how talented his fingers are. I bet you’ve thought about how good they’d feel inside you, opening you up.” Essek clenched down on him at that and gasped. Molly grinned. “That sounds like a winner. I can assure you they’re even more skilled than you realize. What else might you fantasize about, pretty boy?” Molly slid another slick finger into Essek, earning him a high whine.

“I’ve seen those pretty leather gloves you two sometimes wear when you’re working with spell components. I can only imagine how sweet that leather feels on your skin…have you touched yourself with them, Essek, imagining your hands were Caleb’s?” Essek kept up his cute little sighs and gasps but didn’t have any particular reaction to that, so Molly kept opening him, patiently, and tried again.

“I wonder if our hot tub gave you any filthy ideas, then. Did you imagine getting into it with the two of us? Letting us have our way with you like we are now? You’re so vocal, though, darling, that would never do with our friends around. I think I’d have to gag you.” Essek’s walls spasmed _hard_ at that and he cried out. “Oh that sounds like a good guess. Do you like to be gagged, Essek? Do you want to have your mouth stuffed full?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Essek panted weakly. Molly slid in a third finger and Essek practically shouted, his legs shaking. Caleb had himself in hand firmly now, stroking slowly as he watched Molly fingering Essek. He was flushed pink from his face down to his chest, where the coloring disappeared under the copper hair dusted over his chest.

“In that case I’ll bet you’ve thought a lot about sucking us both off,” Molly purred, pressing hard on Essek’s prostate as soon as he found it. Essek cried out and jerked against his bonds, his cock dark and dripping on the sheets.

“Look at him,” Molly whispered, leaning over Essek’s back. “Don’t you just want to choke on it?” Essek’s whole body tensed and he strained against his bonds.

“Fuck, yes, I really do,” Essek cried, and Molly brushed over his prostate again. He knew it was mean, but he didn’t care. He was sure the drow made an absolutely delectable sight from the front, based on the way Caleb was looking at him.

“Will you?” Essek asked timidly.

“Will I what, _mein zierlicher_?”

“Fuck my face. Even if just for a minute, please, use my mouth, I need it so bad, sir, please…” Caleb took in a shaky breath and nodded. He shifted so Essek could reach and Molly was almost impressed with how quickly Essek took Caleb down to the root, like he had no gag reflex.

“Oh, that’s it,” Caleb groaned, tangling his hand in Essek’s hair. “Ja, just like that, fuck, don’t stop…”

Molly didn’t ease up on his fingering, stretching Essek as far as he could with three fingers. Essek didn’t stop grinding his hips back into Molly’s hand either, demanding more, demanding his cock, Molly wasn’t sure. The sounds coming from the other end of the bed, though, were simply divine. After a few moments of Essek getting his bearings, Caleb started to thrust into his mouth, his hips rocking back and forth in a familiar rhythm. Molly could hear Essek’s gulping breaths and the obscene wet sounds as Caleb took him. Caleb was moaning a little louder than he had in the basement, now that he had some privacy. Molly loved the shameless side of Caleb, the one that came out when he was well and truly lost in his pleasure. When Caleb gently pushed Essek’s head back, after only a few minutes, Molly could even see from behind that Essek was debauched. He pulled his fingers out and nodded to Caleb to indicate that Essek was ready, and as Caleb moved to untie him and flip him over, Molly caught a good glimpse of Essek’s face: heavy lids, chin wet, lips swollen and dark. Fucking _hot._ Molly ran his hands over Essek’s torso as Caleb retied his wrists.

“Molly here has done us both the favor of getting himself ready, so I was going to have you open him while I fucked you, but I think I would like for him to ride you instead. How does that sound?” Caleb ran the back of his hand over Essek’s hot, flushed cheek. Molly felt his ass tense and release in anticipation. Gods, _yes_.

“Fucking _please_ , gods, I need it,” Essek sobbed. “I need you both, I want you both…”

“Shhhh,” Caleb soothed. “Be good.” He stepped around the bed and pulled Molly in for a filthy kiss, sucking Molly’s tongue into his mouth before breaking away. “I’ll let you get, ah, situated first, Kitten.”

“I think you just want to watch,” Molly murmured, running his nails down Caleb’s chest.

“Ja, maybe,” he growled, nipping Molly’s bottom lip. Molly reached behind him to pull out the plug but Caleb’s long fingers stopped him. “Let me.” Molly moaned and put his arms around Caleb’s neck, his legs already weak at the human’s touch where he most wanted him.

“Fuck, baby,” Molly whined as Caleb ran the tip of his finger around the metal base, teasing his rim.

“You denied me the pleasure of preparing you myself, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb purred in Molly’s ear. “I want to take my time. You know how your perfect ass drives me wild.” Every slight movement of their bodies against one another tugged on the chain attached to Molly’s nipples. He really thought he might not make it more than a minute on Essek’s dick, with how on edge he felt just having Caleb touch him there. Molly tried to steady his breathing but faltered as soon as Caleb pulled the plug out just barely, and then pushed it back in.

“Please, baby, please, don’t do this to me…” Caleb slapped his ass, hard.

“Who is in charge here, you, or me?”

“You…” Caleb didn’t respond, just put his hand back between Molly’s legs and started working the plug out again, frustratingly slow. Molly sobbed with the overwhelming _need_ he felt, the devastating loss of the heavy plug filling him up when all he wanted was to be more full. It was almost all the way out when Caleb pushed it back in again and Molly collapsed against him, his cock twitching and leaking with a sudden attempt at orgasm.

“ _Fuck!”_ Caleb chuckled and pulled it out for good this time, carefully. He put it aside and slicked his fingers, pushing two into Molly’s velvet heat with ease.

“Such a good boy,” he moaned. “Gods, you feel so good.” Removing his fingers, he gestured towards Essek, who was watching hungrily. “Go on.”

Molly clambered on top of Essek, straddling him, and bent down to kiss him.

“Still doing good, darling?”

“I’ll be doing good once I get inside you,” Essek groaned, his writhing futile against his bonds.

Molly was too desperate now to draw out the teasing and oiled Essek’s cock generously. Conscious of Caleb’s burning gaze on him, he made sure he made a mouthwatering picture for the wizard’s keen mind and sank down onto Essek’s cock with a gasp as he spread himself, knowing Caleb could see every inch of Essek disappearing into him.

“Gods, you’re so _warm_ ,” Essek choked. His legs trembled under Molly. Molly rolled his hips in lazy circles, letting himself get used to the stretch in the parts of him the plug didn’t reach, and looked over his shoulder for Caleb. The human was slicking himself up as he knelt behind Molly and gave Molly a peck on the lips as he spread Essek’s legs. Essek _keened_ and Molly guessed Caleb was pressing inside him - _he probably feels much bigger to Essek_ \- and the thought had him spasming on Essek’s cock. Molly knew he didn’t have much time, keyed up as he was, and started to move his hips, finding a rhythm with Caleb’s cautious movements as he seated himself inside Essek.

As for Essek, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He was emitting these sweet sobs, gasping for air, his whole body shaking under, around, between them. His hands were gripping Molly’s thighs tightly like they were the only thing keeping him from floating away, and his eyes were desperate and wild.

“ _P-please_ -“ -was all he managed to moan before Caleb started thrusting, with one arm slung around Molly’s hips. The impact of Caleb behind him had Molly riding Essek’s cock in short little bounces, and even that was almost too much. He was sweating and panting, sure he looked a mess, but Essek was looking up at him like he’d never seen anything more gorgeous.

Hazily, somewhere in his brain that could still form conscious though, Molly was impressed by Essek’s endurance. He was nuts deep in hot, bouncing tiefling and had a larger than average - for a drow - cock inside him and he was still hanging on, though from his loud and desperate moans, not for long. Molly was happy to lose himself to Caleb’s motion, keeping Essek deep and rubbing in fast little strokes against his insides. He planted his hands on Essek’s chest and closed his eyes, gliding through the haze, letting the sounds of the other men wash over him.

“Cum inside me, please,” he heard Essek gasp weakly.

“Only Molly gets that,” Caleb panted, and he sank his teeth into Molly’s neck.

Molly felt his orgasm cresting at those words but gritted his teeth and held it back, desperate to wait until Caleb was in him. Molly moaned, high and needy, and rode Essek _hard_ , trying to pull the elf’s climax out of him before his own was unstoppable. Essek thrashed as much as he could in his restraints and wailed, his whole body locking up as he spilled deep inside Molly.

“Oh, yes, darling, that’s it, that’s it,” Molly moaned, on the brink of cumming himself. “Give it to me, that’s it, good boy.” He pulled off Essek as soon as Essek’s spasms subsided and a hand from behind pushed him down roughly so he was chest to chest with Essek.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes,” Molly whined loudly as he felt Caleb’s hand on his hip, and then the thick head of Caleb’s cock pushing against his rim.

“Ohhh, _gods_ , baby _,_ ” Caleb moaned desperately, slipping into Molly with ease. He could hear the absolutely filthy sounds of Essek’s cum inside him as Caleb took him, and his face burned with arousal at the feeling of wantonness it inspired. Molly buried his face in Essek’s shoulder and moaned happily when Caleb started to move inside him, pulling almost completely out and then back in, knocking the wind out of Molly. His chest against Essek, the clamps on his nipples, Caleb inside him, he was speeding towards his orgasm quickly as Caleb’s pace increased, and the sounds Molly was making he didn’t even recognize anymore. He felt himself start to tighten up - _no no no it’s too soon, it’s too soon, I want more of him -_ and just as he was quivering, dancing on the tightrope, Caleb reached around with both hands and unhooked the clamps. The rush of sheer sensation that barreled through Molly’s chest pulled a sound of out him that was pure primal release as he came all over Essek’s stomach, unable to hold anything back anymore. He let himself fully lose control of his body, the orgasm making him shake violently between these two beautiful men, and it felt like it went on forever.

Dimly, he was conscious of Caleb’s thrusts stuttering and then stopping completely, pushing deep inside Molly as he climaxed with a loud, choked groan of relief. Molly whimpered at the sensation of heat and wet filling him up, sensual warmth and slickness pulsing through his insides.

Molly pressed dizzy, panting kisses over Essek’s face and neck and was met with little sighs and hums of pleasure. He kept lazily kissing any bit of Essek’s skin he could reach as Caleb came down from his orgasm. Caleb took a moment to kiss down Molly’s spine, running his hands over Molly’s sides, before pulling out gently and moving shakily to the side of the bed to untie Essek.

As soon as Essek was freed, he cast Prestidigitation and wrapped an arm around Molly’s shoulders with a contented sigh. Caleb laid down on Essek’s other side, rubbing Essek’s wrist and forearm where he’d been restrained.

“That was fucking incredible,” Essek mumbled, hazy and sleepy. “You both were…gods. Just incredible.” Molly’s tail pattered a little on the bed.

“I’m glad you had a good time, darling,” he said. He thought about kissing Essek’s forehead but that felt…no, he didn’t want to do that. That kind of affection didn’t feel right here. _You do it with Caleb._

“How are you feeling, Essek?” Caleb asked softly.

“Wonderful.” He yawned. “I, um, I hate to be a rude host, but I am actually falling asleep a little.” He smiled at both of them. “I have a guest room down the hall ready, if you wish to sleep a few hours before returning home?” Caleb looked at Molly.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Ah, ja, it is quite late. Almost 2 in the morning.”

“I wouldn’t mind sleeping here so we can go home in the morning and just act like we went out early running errands,” Molly suggested. _And I want a little more time just the two of us._ He shoved that thought away. Caleb nodded.

“I would hate to impose on you, Essek…”

“It is no imposition,” the elf mumbled, eyes already drifting shut. “Just down the hall and two doors down to the left. Make yourselves at home, and if you need anything, call for one of the staff. I truly do hate to say goodnight so soon, I just really am falling asleep.”

“Of course, Essek ,it is no problem.” Caleb squeezed Essek’s hand. “I just want to make certain you are alright first.”

“Oh, yes, I’m fine, thank you for checking. I, ah, prefer to be alone and enjoy some quiet time after such encounters anyway.” Molly pressed a chaste kiss to the top of his head.

“Understood. We’ll make ourselves scarce.” Caleb and Molly dressed quickly and made their way to the door.

“I had a very nice time,” Essek said sleepily, still smiling. “I hope we will have the chance to enjoy one another’s company again soon.” Molly grinned.

“Feeling’s mutual, darling. Have a good sleep.”

“Good night, Essek,” Caleb said.

The guest room Essek mentioned was nicer than the room Essek kept for himself. The linens and wallpaper were done in shades of muted violet and bluish purple, with copper accents.

“He’s got quite good taste,” Molly observed, running his hand over a plush chaise lounge in front of the fireplace. His heart was suddenly beating nervously, looking at the bed. He hadn’t slept in bed with Caleb before, it was something that felt frighteningly intimate - not counting that one time, but he’d fallen asleep before he even had a chance to think better of it. His gaze flitted around nervously, looking for anything to occupy himself while he calmed his nerves.

“Are you alright, Mollymauk?”

“What? Oh, yeah, just fine.” Caleb hesitated and then stepped over, wrapping his arms around Molly cautiously, like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed. Molly breathed in his scent, his face nestled against Caleb’s chest. He brought his arms up around Caleb’s waist.

“I realize I did not, um, care for you, right after, and I’m very sorry for that. Would you let me make it up to you now?”

“Oh! Um, yeah, of course. I - sorry, I wasn’t upset or anything, I realize it might have come off like that.”

“Here, lay down.” Caleb guided Molly to the bed and he laid down. Caleb undressed to his underclothes and slid in next to Molly, then reached out to touch Molly’s chest. “May I?”

Molly nodded and smiled, settling into the luxuriously soft bed. Caleb bent to the floor to reach into his pocket and pulled out another vial of oil, which he uncorked and applied to his hands. He slowly, very gently, massaged the oil into Molly’s skin, where the wax had left some barely visible marks.

“Do these feel okay?” He murmured, rubbing the oil in. The spots stung a little, but Molly was confident they’d feel better tomorrow.

“Yeah, just a little sting, nothing to worry about.”

“Did I burn you?” The regret in Caleb’s face was heartbreaking.

“No, no, not at all,” Molly reassured. “The wax was a little hot in some places but I didn’t catch any of the candle flame.”

“Ah, okay. Good.” He returned to lavishing attention on Molly’s skin, making sure any spot that had been touched by the wax got a healthy dose of soothing oil rubbed into it. Molly loved how tender Caleb wanted to be with him after sex. He knew it was so that Molly came down safely, to reassure him that Caleb wasn’t really cruel, but Molly sometimes felt like he was reassuring himself too. It was as if soothing the pain he inflicted was healing for him, in some…larger, spiritual sense. Molly liked that he could offer that.

Caleb moved on to massaging Molly’s hands, caressing lightly over the surface and pressing down in some places to relieve tension Molly hadn’t realized he was carrying. The silence between them felt like a natural part of this ritual, comfortable and sweet.

“You were so wonderful tonight, Molly,” Caleb murmured as he laid down, still holding Molly’s hand. Molly turned onto his side, his pulse hammering faster now that they were facing each other, so close together. _That’s ridiculous. You’ve fucked the man twenty different ways by now._

“Did you have a good time?” Molly asked with a smile. “Do you think you’d want to do this again?”

“Maybe. I mean, yes, I did have a good time. A very good time. But I have a good time with you at home too. This was…a lot.”

“I know what you mean. It seems like you liked that woman you were talking to though, Baeolin? You seemed to have a lot in common.” Molly played with Caleb’s hand, lacing their fingers together, rubbing his thumb over scarred skin.

“Well, we have an interest in magic in common. But she is far more advanced of course, than I am, and…I suspect we have very different ideas about what it ought to be used for.”

“Ah, yeah, that’s true.” Molly fell silent, feeling awkward for having brought up the archmage, given her role in the war. Caleb stared off past Molly’s head, his brow furrowed. “What’re you thinking about?” Molly asked softly. Caleb’s gaze turned back to him and he smiled sheepishly.

“Just, ah, what she and I were discussing. It occurred to me that the mechanisms of enchantment are potentially more useful for power word spells than other schools of magic, because it is far easier to bypass some of the limits of…never mind, I know this does not interest you.” Molly laughed.

“Of course it interests me, I ought to know something about what you do. That way when I go to parties I can brag about how smart my wizard is.”

“ _Your_ wizard?” Caleb repeated, an amused smile on his face. Molly flushed deep purple. That just came on out didn’t it? He opened his mouth to say something but Caleb silenced him with a chaste kiss. “We ought to get a bit of sleep, ja, before morning comes and the others wonder where we are?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Molly turned over and settled into the pillows. Caleb’s foot shifted to touch Molly’s tail and Molly let it curl around his ankle a little. No harm in that.

The next morning, when they arrived back at the Xhorhaus with a big box of breakfast pastries and a readymade alibi about having both conveniently woken up early, Molly had a nagging unease in the back of his mind. Something about the way his stomach was turning, the way he felt on edge, the morning just wasn’t sitting well with him.

The Nein bustled around the dining room, chattering, making coffee and tea, and digging into the box. Jester squealed and planted a big kiss on Caleb’s cheek when she saw that he bought the cinnamon bear claws she loved, which made him blush, and Yasha devoured half a cinnamon loaf in the first five minutes of sitting down.

“Thanks for going to get this stuff, guys, that was a really nice surprise,” Nott said, through a mouthful of a mouthful of pumpkin turnover.

“Glad you like it,” Molly replied. Caleb caught his gaze from across the table and Molly’s heart flipped as soon as those sea blue eyes met his. Caleb raised his coffee cup to his lips with a small smile and gave Molly a quick wink. The roiling in Molly’s stomach intensified. And it hit him.

He was falling in love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are heating up y'all 😈 Thank you so much for all the thoughtful, detailed, encouraging comments! I know you had to wait for this one but I hope it was worth it!!


	9. oh sing, sing, sing, for the dying of the day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two potential triggers in this chapter:
> 
> 1\. The boys engage in gender play in this chapter. There's no humiliation (i.e. not sissification or anything like that), but if that might be challenging for you, you may want to skip the majority of this chapter (pick back up at the paragraph that starts with "Gods, I think I’d just melt into a puddle"). I think of Molly here as wanting to explore femininity as part of his sexuality, not as trans. I say this mostly because if I was writing trans Molly this would be a terrible way to do it. If you want to HC Molly here as trans or starting to explore the possibility, go for it!
> 
> 2\. Molly remembers past bad experiences trying this with past partners, including some expressing transphobic or misogynistic attitudes. If you want to skip this, just skip the chapter that starts with "Molly grinned and giggled."
> 
> Take care of yourself and I hope you enjoy!! ❤️
> 
> EDIT: Two commenters brought it to my attention that Molly is in fact canonically nonbinary! I would like to say that I wasn't aware of this and I appreciate them telling me. My first note reflects my concern that a reader might think I was trying to write Molly as engaging in this roleplay as a way to express or explore the possibility of being a trans woman, because this would have been an insensitive and problematic way to do such a thing. (Maybe an irrational worry and nobody would've thought that, but I don't like to hurt people and have anxiety brain). I hope that there is space within this fic as a whole for the reader to understand Molly as nonbinary, but I want to acknowledge that I haven't been writing him that way and so there may not be sufficient space for that, for which I'm sorry. I apologize for accidentally engaging in that erasure and want to be clear that I would have been representing Molly accurately in all my writing had I known that.
> 
> In addition, I would have written this chapter specifically very differently, and I want to own it that with the context of genderfluid Molly, it reads as if Molly needs a different body in order to be recognized as a woman or embody womanhood/femme expression, which, he doesn't (and neither does anyone else). Thanks to those commenters for raising this and I hope that others also feel safe and heard to express their concerns or give such feedback!

By the time Molly went to bed that night, he was certain of it. He was falling in love. Maybe he already was. Maybe it had started before he’d ever gotten into bed with Caleb. If he was being honest with himself, he’d known it before now. Based on the way his knotted stomach had unraveled the second he faced the thought, the effort of pushing it all down had been eating at him. He was falling in love with Caleb.

What was more, he didn’t think he was imagining their connection. The way Caleb looked at him, the way his breath caught, just slightly, when they locked eyes during sex, the possessiveness he tried to hide, the tenderness in his kisses - that felt like more than just being fuckbuddies. Molly had had more than his share of fuckbuddies, and he’d never felt like this.

What surprised Molly most of all: he was happy.

Once he finally let himself feel all the emotions he’d been shoving away about Caleb, it was like he was perpetually floating. Every moment Caleb was in his sight was like getting high. He felt full to bursting just watching him sleepily boil water for coffee in the morning, his curls still askew. His eyes followed the furrow of Caleb’s brow as he walked around the living room, calculating the most perfect spot to hang the alphabet chart Luc had proudly mailed to his mother. Of course, his absolute favorite thing was when he took his tarot deck into the library in the evening, working quietly, spread out on the rug by the fireplace. The golden light of the fire brought out the copper shine in Caleb’s hair, and Molly found himself just staring sometimes, Caleb at his desk behind a stack of books that almost obscured his face, in half a dozen languages. He was so fucking _smart_. Watching his brain at work, his ceaseless pursuit of knowledge, just pushed Molly deeper and deeper into these heady feelings. Occasionally, Caleb would catch him staring and smile shyly, his cheeks turning pink under Molly’s gaze.

Molly didn’t care whether it meant the same thing to Caleb as it meant to him, this quiet time he was coming to treasure more and more, though he hoped it did. He was in love, and he was happy, and he thought maybe Caleb shared some of his feelings. Part of him wanted to put it out in the open, but another part of him wondered…what for? They were clearly both feeling whatever was between him. Molly didn’t need more than what he had right now, didn’t feel the need to make things formal. So he floated, riding on the high.

Two weeks or so after the party, Molly opened his nightstand drawer, looking for his horn balm, and saw one of the purchases he’d made on the same shopping trip where he bought that rope. Nervous excitement filled his stomach and he fingered the vial cautiously. It had sat here for weeks, if not months now, and yet all of a sudden, Molly couldn’t wait anymore to try it. He shut the nightstand drawer and popped out of his room, almost running smack into Caleb, who was walking down the hall, toweling his hair off after a bath.

Molly felt his heart nearly jump out of his chest and forgot how to talk for a minute. Even though he was dressed, it really wasn’t fair, all things considered, for Caleb to be all wet and flushed like that, smelling like spicy soap. _How did I stand a chance, really?_ Molly daydreamed for half a second about following those water droplets down Caleb’s neck with his tongue and then dragged himself back to reality.

“Everything alright, Mollymauk?” Caleb asked, clearly trying to bite back an amused smile.

“I’m fine, sorry,” Molly mumbled, his face hot. Caleb started to move past him but Molly placed a hand on his forearm, looking behind him for any wayward housemates. “Hey, uh, busy tonight?” Caleb grinned.

“Never too much so for you.” Molly beamed and retreated back into his room with a wink as Caleb continued down the hall and descended the stairs.

Molly paced nervously around his room that evening, nixing a dozen different outfits, flopping on his bed and wallowing about how he didn’t look good in anything, banishing that thought and remembering he looked good in everything, and finally settling on something. He was anxious, and he let himself be. Tonight was different, it wasn’t just one of the dozen or so quick tumbles they’d had by now, playing with things Molly already knew he liked and had done before, or at least knew what to expect from. This was a whole new experience entirely, and one he trusted Caleb enough to lead him through.

Molly was sitting at his vanity, staring hard at himself in the mirror - _you can back down, you don’t have to do this tonight, you can think about it more, he won’t be disappointed -_ when a little pink nose pushed its way through the tiny crack in Molly’s ajar door. Molly closed his robe tightly around himself and looked down as Frumpkin padded in, the bright blue of his irises the only hint that he wasn’t here on his own initiative. The fey cat slithered through Molly’s ankles, purring and rubbing his cheek against the tiefling’s leg. Molly smiled and picked him up.

“Impatient tonight, hmm?” Molly whispered, rubbing noses with Frumpkin. “Alright, I’ll be down in a minute.” He put the cat back down on the ground and gently pushed his rump towards the door. Frumpkin padded back out, as silent as he came in. Molly looked back at himself in the mirror. He looked _good._ Caleb would take care of him. He didn’t have to worry.

Molly forced his legs to stand, slipped the vial of swirling olive green liquid into his robe pocket, and hurried down the stairs before he could lose his nerve again.

The rapid, shallow beating of Molly’s heart calmed as soon as he stepped through the library door, closing it behind him, and saw Caleb stretched out by the fire, long legs up on the couch. He was fine. Everything was going to be fine. Molly smiled and stepped over to him, and Caleb beamed. Caleb slid an arm around Molly’s waist and pulled him down onto his lap.

“You look gorgeous,” Caleb murmured, nuzzling against Molly’s neck. Arousal and affection spread slowly through Molly, his blood turning to warm honey, as Caleb’s lips met his.

“C’mon, I have something.” Caleb’s eyes widened slightly; Molly knew he must already be running through a million possibilities of what it could be. Molly stood, his legs a little shaky, and led Caleb to the bedroom. When the human closed and locked the door behind him, Molly, standing in the middle of the room and fidgeting, whipped the vial out of his pocket and held it out to Caleb. “Here.”

Caleb hesitated, but reached out and took it, inspecting it carefully.

“I, ah, am afraid I do not know what this is, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb said. Molly swallowed thickly.

“You have a spell for that though right?” He tried to keep his tone seductive, like he wanted Caleb to have to find out for himself as part of building anticipation, rather than because he was having a hard time forming the words to just ask for what he wanted. Caleb tilted his head and frowned.

“Uh, ja, it will take about ten minutes though, is that alright? You could just tell me?”

“I want you to use those smarts and figure it out on your own,” Molly teased, though he was sure his wide eyed stare and his teeth digging into his lower lip gave away his nerves.

“Ah, um, okay. Well…just make yourself comfortable, I suppose.” Caleb dug into his components pouch and sat down at his desk. Worry gripped Molly’s heart, as he sat back on the bed, his tail swishing back and forth and his stomach roiling. _Now you’ve made it weird. You could’ve just told him, and then it’d be no big deal, and now it’s weird, and he thinks you’re being weird, and it’s a whole thing, and you’re ruining the mood, and-_

“I’m going to the kitchen for a bit of a drink,” Molly announced, standing up in a rush. “Can I bring you back a whiskey?”

“Sure,” Caleb mumbled. His brow was furrowed in concentration as held the vial in his left hand and waved his right, palm down, middle and ring fingers crossed, in a slashing gesture over the pearl and the owl feather resting on the desk.

Molly dashed to the kitchen and pulled down the bottle from the cabinet. He poured two generous glasses and then hesitated for a second before pouring himself an extra shot and knocking it back. Heart pounding, Molly returned to Caleb’s room. _You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re okay._ He placed the glass on Caleb’s desk and leaned against it, watching him finish the spell. The small embers of arcane energy that danced between Caleb’s hands and the vial felt like they were bouncing around in Molly’s stomach. He pushed off from the desk and paced, then tried to stop pacing, then busied himself looking through his favorite drawer of Caleb’s nightstand. When Molly heard Caleb fumble the vial, his heart flipped. _He finished the spell. Here goes._

Molly whipped around and Caleb was on his knees, peering under his desk, cursing softly.

“What happened?”

“Dropped my pearl,” Caleb said, his voice muffled. He scrambled back up with the pearl in hand, spotted Molly, and smacked his head on the underside of the desk.

“Ooh!” Molly grimaced, rushing over. “Are you okay?!” Caleb looked up at him, wide-eyed, the vial clutched tightly in his hand. He blushed.

“Ah, um, ja, I am okay, thank you.” Molly shifted back and forth between his feet, worrying his bottom lip between his teeth. The two were silent for a moment and Caleb got up slowly.

“So, um, it worked?” Molly asked lamely. “The spell?”

“Well, ja, it did, I am, um-“

“We don’t have to do it! If you don’t want to!” Panic started to bubble up in Molly’s throat. Caleb slid an arm around Molly’s waist and kissed him.

“No, no, I do want to,” he breathed. “I was just…surprised. Have you ever…?”

“Had a cunt? Not last I checked.” Caleb chuckled.

“Well we can take it slow, okay, and if you decide you don’t care for it, I can dispel it right away. Are _you_ sure you want to do this?”

“I am,” Molly said, smiling shyly. “I mean, I know it seems silly to be so nervous, but….“ Caleb shook his head vigorously.

“It is the furthest thing from silly. This would be a totally new experience for you, and…intense, probably. I, um, feel very…um, complimented? That you trust me enough to have an experience like this with me.” Molly’s heart was full to bursting.

“I do,” he whispered, pulling Caleb in for another kiss. “Hand it over, before I lose my balls.”

“I thought that was the idea, no?”

“Just for that, I’m going back upstairs to play with my brand new cunt all by myself.”

“Noooo, anything but that,” Caleb pleaded. The smile on his face gave him away as he cupped the back of Molly’s neck and planted another burning kiss on his lips. He slipped the potion back to Molly, but before he let go of it, pulled back and looked at Molly’s face. He cleared his throat and averted his eyes.

“Um, Mollymauk?” Molly’s heart dropped.

“What’s wrong?”

“I, um, hope you will forgive me, but it has been a while since, I uh, was with a woman, and, I mean, I’m sure I’m being foolish, I just am a bit nervous that I may not be up to your expectations.” Molly wanted to pull Caleb in and tell him that he could never be disappointing in bed, and that he didn’t care about Caleb’s skill, he just wanted to do it with _him_ , and that he loved him and that was all that mattered-

“I’m sure you still know your way around one well enough,” Molly said instead.

“Ja, okay,” Caleb murmured against Molly’s mouth. “Just, do not be shy about giving me direction, if I’m not pleasing you.”

“I’m perfectly vocal in bed, as you well know,” Molly quipped.

“Mmm, that you are,” Caleb purred, starting to trace the line of Molly’s jaw with his lips.

“Wait - liquid courage first, yeah?” Molly popped over to the nightstand where he’d left his whiskey and Caleb picked his up off the desk, swirling the golden liquor.

“Ah, perhaps that first, and the courage will wash out the taste,” Caleb suggested, gesturing to the vial in Molly’s hand. Molly nodded. Bottoms up. He uncorked it and shot it back before he could chicken out again. A surprising spice hit the back of his throat, burning and hot, and the flavor left behind was strangely vegetal, but not altogether unpleasant.

“Proust,” Caleb murmured, holding his glass up to Molly and downing the amber liquid. Molly chased the potion with his own whiskey and heat slowly gathered in his belly. He hadn’t noticed at first, since the potion and the whiskey burned on the way down, but he definitely felt warm, and…fluid, like his body wasn’t being held together correctly anymore. Caleb gripped his forearms.

“Have you ever been Polymorphed before?”

“No,” Molly squeaked. “Does it always feel like this? Like I’m…coming apart?”

“Ja, it does, I’m sorry, I should have warned you…” Before he could say anything else, the heat subsided and at first Molly thought maybe it didn’t work, but then he turned his hips back and forth. No, his dick was definitely not there anymore. Caleb was watching him carefully.

“How do you feel?”

“Kind of the same?” Molly shrugged and grinned. “I don’t know. Let’s take it for a spin and see.” Caleb laughed and slipped his arms around Molly’s waist. Molly’s tail whipped around behind him, excited, and he pressed himself against Caleb’s chest, leaning up for a kiss.

They made out slowly, in no rush. Caleb’s hands drifted bit by bit down to Molly’s ass, cupping and squeezing him against his body. Molly noticed small things first. He could feel the beginnings of Caleb’s erection pressing against his stomach, and having nothing of his own pressing back. Directly between his legs felt warmer, more awake, compared to the front of his pelvis.

When Caleb’s fingers came around to the tie of Molly’s robe and started undoing it, Molly’s breath hitched in anticipation. He let the fabric slide off his shoulders and Caleb moaned softly, tugging the rest of the robe off, unable to take his eyes off Molly’s body. Under Molly’s robe was a soft scrap of black lace, descending from his shoulders like a slip, but opening right under his ribcage and showing off his flat stomach. The cups of the garment sat flat against his chest, of course, as did the fabric of the lace panties that had felt quite tight when he slipped them on, but now had a little extra room against the flat mound that newly sat between his legs.

“Oh, _scheisse_ , Mollymauk, are you _trying_ to kill me?”

Molly grinned and giggled, leaning forward for another kiss, this one much hotter, more urgent, and with a lot more tongue. He had been so nervous about all this; though he and Caleb had talked about it theoretically, Molly worried that maybe Caleb wouldn’t like it as much as he thought he would once he actually saw Molly like this. Maybe he’d think Molly looked ridiculous. He’d had some negative experiences, playing like this in the past. He had a distinct memory of a brief fling with a fellow carnie that had ended when the man started humiliating him in the middle of sex, getting off on telling Molly how foolish he looked, a man in women’s clothing. The second time he decided to try this, the other guy’s interest turned out to be based on the desire to verbally degrade a man the way he would a woman, calling Molly horrible names, slapping him around and treating him like something less than human. That sour experience had ended abruptly when Molly kicked him out on his ass, sans half his clothing, cursing him out in Infernal. Since then, Molly had put away the silky, lacy things he loved to feel against his skin, only taking them out occasionally when he was pleasuring himself. He trusted Caleb and was both excited and terrified to share this with him. All his worries, that Caleb might not enjoy it, or wasn’t as into it as he was, dissolved as he felt Caleb’s hands running up and down his sides, rubbing the lace between his fingers and breathing heavily against Molly’s neck as he kissed it.

“Why don’t you show me how you show a girl a good time?” Molly purred. He tangled his fingers in Caleb’s hair and gasped as his teeth found purchase in Molly’s neck. An unfamiliar and deeply erotic heat was pooling in the bowl of Molly’s pelvis, an exciting shift in the locus of arousal compared to what he was used to. The craving to be filled was even more pronounced, a distinct emptiness making itself known and demanding its eradication at the same time.

Molly moaned into Caleb’s mouth as he kissed Molly again, his hands at Molly’s hips, guiding him back to the bed. He pulled Caleb down to the mattress with him, unbuttoning his shirt and tugging at his belt through messy, panting kisses.

“Patience, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb chuckled. “We have so much to do before we get to that.” Molly whined, the heat building between his thighs. He felt almost like he needed to pee, but tried to ignore the instinctual alarm that feeling set off and focus on the man in front of him. He pouted a little, begging with his eyes, but took his hands off Caleb’s belt and brought them back up around his neck.

“If you say so.”

“That’s it,” Caleb murmured, kissing and nipping Molly’s exposed neck and collarbone. His neck truly had not known peace since they started sleeping together. Thankfully he’d been able to hide most of the marks with makeup or scarves, and really, he liked that Caleb wanted to put marks on Molly and stake his claim.

Caleb continued to move down Molly’s body, pushing the lace of the lingerie aside to have access to Molly’s nipples, sucking them and rolling them in his fingers.

“So good for me, getting all dressed up, my good…” He looked up at Molly, waiting for him to say something. Molly opened his mouth but again, found it impossible to force the words out and ask for what he wanted. “…Boy?” Molly bit his lip and didn’t say anything. “Girl?” He gave a nervous little nod. Caleb bent his head again and sucked one of Molly’s nipples, hard.

“Such a good girl, _Schatz_ , so good…” The words sent a thrill up Molly’s spine like lightning and he arched into Caleb’s touch, moaning happily. That Zemnian word he kept hearing, though, was that another way to say Kitten? Molly pushed out the thought as irrelevant with Caleb’s mouth on him like that.

“Please,” Molly whimpered as Caleb laid barely there kisses over his stomach. He could feel pulsing, thick and hot, deep inside him, just pure _want_ demanding satisfaction. “Please, baby, touch me….”

“I am touching you, Kitten.” Caleb slid his hands under Molly to grab his ass and nipped Molly’s hip with a grin. “Is this not what you want?”

“No, no,” Molly whined, becoming higher, more desperate. “I want- I want-“

“Tell me what you want.”

“I want your mouth.” The words were so quiet Molly wasn’t sure if Caleb even heard them, but the human immediately spread Molly’s thighs and nestled between them, nuzzling his nose against Molly’s mound.

“Good girl, asking for what you need,” Caleb praised, reaching up to lace his fingers in one of Molly’s hands. “Do you need a minute, before I…?” He gestured to the black lace preserving the last scrap of Molly’s modesty. Molly shook his head, but there were doubts swirling in his mind as he realized he really didn’t know what he looked like down there, what if it wasn’t pretty, or didn’t taste good? Caleb evaluated his expression, one hand running up and down Molly’s thigh.

“You have my hand, ja? I know you have your words but you can also give me three squeezes, okay? We can pause or stop or I can dispel this from you any time you want.” Molly nodded.

“Thank you,” he squeaked. Gods, he was acting like a virgin, and he felt so foolish for it. “I just…tell me if you like it okay?” Caleb smiled and kissed the inside of Molly’s thigh.

“There could never be anything that is part of you that I would not like.” Molly’s heart soared and he tried his best to rein it back. _Don’t take that differently than how he meant it._ “We can go slow.”

He hooked his fingers under the waist of the lace panties and worked them off Molly’s hips, making steady eye contact the whole time. Molly wanted to squirm out from under the intensity of that gaze, but he forced himself to stay, grounding himself in Caleb’s eyes as he was exposed.

Once he was bare, the air hit wet skin, making Molly shudder. Caleb didn’t let go of Molly’s hand as he kissed gently around the spot Molly wanted him, just letting him get used to the new sensations there. Molly was going nuts trying to be patient, the heat inside him still insistent, but finally, Caleb put his free hand on the inside of Molly’s thigh and pushed his legs apart gently.

Gods, the look on Caleb’s face alone was enough to answer Molly’s doubts about whether or not he liked it. Still, Caleb tore his eyes away and looked at Molly, who saw nothing but sincerity.

“You are _so_ beautiful, _Schatz_.”

Molly, so fucking turned on already, whimpered at Caleb’s praise. He just wanted more and more of it. Caleb ran the pad of his finger over Molly’s swollen labia, gently, patiently, and Molly wriggled at the pleasant but unfamiliar sensation.

“And so wet for me already.”

“Oh gods, I am,” Molly breathed. He felt like he was soaked but he’d never been wet before, so he imagined he’d feel that way no matter what. “I am, all for you.”

“That’s right you are,” Caleb murmured. “Let’s see what my pretty girl’s sweet pussy likes, ja?” Molly nodded vigorously. Caleb grinned and spread Molly with his fingers, prompting another shiver as air hit even more hot, wet skin. Caleb explored him slowly, watching each twitch and pulse of Molly’s cunt as he tried a few different ways of touching, eager to see what Molly liked. When his finger drifted up to the tiny hard nub nestled where Molly’s labia joined, Molly spasmed with pleasure so hard he thought he’d hit the ceiling.

“ _Pelor’s fucking balls!”_

“Too much?”

“No, fuck, I just didn’t know it’d feel like _that_!” Caleb grinned and ran his thumb over it again gently. This time Molly was ready but still moaned, his insides fluttering around nothing.

“So sensitive, _Kätzchen_.”

“Gods, yes, it feels so fucking good…” Caleb had barely touched him and Molly was already flushed and sweaty, edging towards desperation.

“You’re so fucking hot,” Caleb breathed, kissing Molly’s labia. “Please, gods, I cannot wait to make you cum…”

“Get to it, then!” Molly said, giving Caleb a playful smack on the hand.

He choked on his next snarky comment as Caleb buried his face between Molly’s legs, his bright blue eyes drifting shut as he moaned against Molly’s warm cunt. Molly’s eyes rolled back inand his thighs clenched around Caleb’s head; he fisted his hand in the human’s hair like it was the only thing keeping him from dissolving into thin air. He writhed and shoved a fist in his mouth to keep himself quiet, pleasure exploding through his whole body from this one point of contact. He’d thought it would be something like getting his ass eaten, and it wasn’t even close. Caleb’s tongue glided over slick, soft skin and there were so many different _sensations_ , from the light tickling of Caleb’s beard over his outer labia to the mind-numbing feeling of Caleb sucking on his clit, which Molly thought might just rip the soul straight out of his body. The sounds were obscene, but Molly was reveling in the squelch of his wet pussy against the backdrop of Caleb’s hot little sounds, his groans and sighs of obvious bliss as he squeezed Molly’s ass and dove into Molly as far as he could.

Molly whined in protest when Caleb pulled back, but the sight of him, his chin wet with Molly, face flushed, eyes almost black with lust, was more than compensation.

“Tell me if you like this, ja?” He bent back down but Molly put a hand on his forehead.

“Do I - does it taste okay?”

“Sweet as sugar, baby,” Caleb purred, winking as he lowered his mouth back to Molly’s cunt.

Molly let out a low groan and let his head fall back on the mattress. His moan went up an octave when he felt Caleb’s tongue pressing inside him, a strange and intense feeling.

“Fuck, yes, I do like that,” Molly choked out, unable to keep still. Caleb hummed in affirmation and pushed in further. Molly experimented with canting his hips up, rolling them in little circles, trying to figure out a rhythm he liked. Caleb seemed to get Molly’s hint that it wasn’t enough and returned his attention to Molly’s clit, sending Molly into more violent convulsions as his thighs clamped down around Caleb’s head again and he rocketed toward orgasm. He couldn’t have slowed it if he wanted to, and when Caleb’s tongue flicked over the very tip of his clit, just enough pressure to be on the good side of overwhelming, Molly’s orgasm caught him by surprise, suddenly crashing over him like a tsunami and his body locked up so hard, his hips practically lifted off the bed. He felt a warm, wet gush that Caleb moaned desperately through and started squirming away as any touch on his pussy became too much very quickly.

Molly was boneless for a minute, panting, feeling slick trickle down his inner thighs, and Caleb climbed up next to him, gathering Molly into his chest.

“Oh, good girl, sweet Kitten, cumming so hard for me,” he murmured, pulling Molly up for a hot, lusty kiss. Molly tasted himself in it, a hint of familiar salt under the sweet rosewater that lingered on Caleb’s lips. He didn’t say anything, he was focused on dizzily catching his breath and regaining feeling in his legs.

“Are you alright?” Caleb asked, stroking Molly’s hair.

“Yeah, sorry, I was just trying to puzzle out how that girlfriend you used to have didn’t keep you chained to her bedpost.” Caleb laughed and blushed bright red. Molly felt the laugh before he heard it, curled up against Caleb’s chest.

“I do not think I know how to respond to that.”

“You could fuck me,” Molly suggested sweetly. He still felt an ache deep in his core that needed to be filled, and he moaned softly when Caleb’s fingers reached between them and stroked Molly’s labia.

“Is that what you want?”

“Gods, that’s the only reason I bought this! I mean…unless you don’t want to-“ Caleb silenced him with a bruising kiss and brought Molly’s hand down to where his erection pressed against Molly’s stomach, rock hard and leaking.

“What do you think, _Kätzchen_?”

“I think I want that in me five minutes ago,” Molly breathed. “Can’t believe I’m ready to go again already…”

“Mmmm, you are so wet and ready, beautiful,” Caleb moaned, dipping his fingers into Molly’s slick heat. Molly loved being so close together, Caleb’s face just inches from his, he could watch every minute change in his expression, feel his breath.

“Do you want my fingers first?” Molly wanted to say no, he just wanted to get fucked until he couldn’t walk right, but fingers first was probably a good idea. He nodded and as soon as Caleb slid the first of his long, dextrous fingers inside Molly’s passage he gasped and clutched Caleb’s shoulders, hooking one leg over his hip. It was intimate, totally different from getting his ass fingered, and the one finger was a godsdamned tease compared to what he really wanted. He’d been expecting a bit of discomfort, like the first time he’d bottomed, but Caleb’s finger worked inside him with barely a stretch.

“Fuuuuck,” Molly groaned.

“Oh yes, you want more, baby?” Caleb’s breath was ragged already.

“Please, please,” Molly whimpered, grinding his hips down on Caleb’s hand.

“Gorgeous girl,” he murmured, biting Molly’s earlobe as he slid another finger inside. This one Molly felt, and he whined in pleasure as Caleb massaged his pliable, velvet soft walls. “Why don’t you rub your clit for me, Kitten, show me how you would get off if you were playing with your cute little pussy all by yourself…”

Molly felt his cunt clench down on Caleb’s hand at those words and immediately slipped a hand down between their bodies. This was the first time he’d felt it and his fingers slipped over the swollen bud of his clit with almost no friction. He experimented with a few light touches but when he put pressure on it his legs started to tremble.

“Fuck, that’s it,” he choked; he could feel his body practically sucking Caleb’s fingers in deeper. He started to rub in circles and let out a high pitched whine that Caleb smothered with a kiss.

“Shhhh, baby, I know it feels good, doesn’t it? Tell me how this feels…” Caleb hooked his two fingers behind Molly’s pubic bone and Molly gasped as a strange pressure radiated through his whole pelvis.

“I - that’s a lot,” he managed. Caleb let up immediately and went back to thrusting his fingers steadily in and out of Molly’s cunt.

“Okay, we will not do that then,” he murmured, nuzzling against Molly’s ear. Molly was still clutching Caleb’s shoulders like his life depended on it and was certain he was leaving scratches. He resumed playing with his clit and moaned again as Caleb increased his pace.

“Yes, gods, fuck, that feels so good, please, yes, yes,” Molly babbled, his brain hazy and empty of anything but the pursuit of more pleasure.

“Oh, you like that, don’t you, pretty girl? Two fingers in you and you are ready to mess my bed, just like the first time I fingered you.” Caleb tutted. “I have not trained you very well, but I cannot help it, _Schatz_ , nothing turns me on like giving you pleasure.”

“Keep talking to me, please, I need it,” Molly moaned, burying his burning face in Caleb’s shoulder.

“I know how much you like to be told how good you are, how beautiful you are…” Caleb picked up the pace and Molly followed. “I’m so fucking lucky.” Molly groaned and spasmed around his fingers.

“Please, please, please,” was all Molly could say in gasping sobs. His hand was pressed between his own body and Caleb’s erection, which was getting wetter and wetter as Molly’s pussy rubbed against it.

“Oh, fuck, _Kätzchen_ ,” Caleb groaned, canting his hips against Molly’s moving hand. “That’s it, touch yourself for me, my needy girl, you are just gorgeous like this, so warm and wet....” Molly whimpered as another orgasm started to rise in his belly, his thighs clenching around Caleb’s hand. “You know how gorgeous you are, don’t you? You drive me wild all day long, even when you are not there, I cannot stop thinking about you. How good you taste, how sweet you sound when you cum, gods… Sometimes I cannot even focus on my work because of you, I have to come in here and finish myself off or I’ll be aching at my desk all day.”

“Really?” Molly blurted out, rolling his hips back and forth against Caleb’s hand.

“Ja, really,” Caleb whispered in Molly’s ear, his voice husky and his accent thick with lust. “You drive me crazy, Mollymauk, the last time I was sneaking off to my room to get off in the middle of the day like this, I was sixteen. I cannot get enough of you.”

Molly’s heart was making a valiant effort at busting out of his ribcage. Even if it was lust-fueled and Molly was probably interpreting it differently than how Caleb meant it, it was a powerful admission. He didn’t know how to respond so he pulled away from Caleb’s shoulder and kissed him desperately, rubbing himself faster and harder until the tide of orgasm overtook him again. Molly’s thighs clamped around Caleb’s hand and his hips bucked wildly as a sound of pure release burst from his throat, fortunately muffled by Caleb’s mouth. He started squirming away from Caleb’s touch immediately, his clit almost burning with sensation. Caleb pulled his hand away and only broke away from Molly’s kisses to suck Molly’s slick off his fingers. Molly could’ve happily died right there from how fucking hot that was, but dizzily, decided that he at least needed to get properly fucked before shuffling off this mortal coil.

“I want you,” he panted, so close to Caleb’s face their noses were touching. “I want you inside me, baby, please, please.” His clit was still sensitive and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to cum again but his cunt was practically pouring slick and those two fingers, while thoroughly enjoyable, weren’t nearly enough.

“Are you sure?” Caleb breathed, running his hand over Molly’s thigh. “You don’t need a break?”

“No,” Molly mumbled, threading his fingers through Caleb’s hair. “No, I want you now, just like this, please, baby-“ Caleb hitched Molly’s leg up further on his hip and then guided his cock to Molly’s entrance. They were still on their sides, messily making out, but when Molly felt the head of Caleb’s cock pressing against him he gasped and dug his nails into Caleb’s back. _It won’t fit_ , he thought irrationally, but it certainly felt that way, at least for a second. Miraculously, or so it seemed, Molly’s walls relaxed and let the rest of Caleb slide in in one easy, wet glide.

“That was so _easy_ ,” Molly panted woozily, his legs shaking. Gods, had it really been that long since he’d been on the other end of this?

“Mmm, you always are for me,” Caleb teased, kissing Molly’s jaw.

“Shut up and fuck me,” Molly grumbled, though his smile belied his delight. Caleb smacked Molly’s ass where he gripped the thigh slung over his hip.

“Bossy girl.”

With that, though, he started rocking his hips against Molly, thrusting in and out with ease, and Molly pressed into his shoulder again, letting the intensity of the sensation sweep him away. It was nothing like he was used to, he felt every inch of Caleb inside him, and there wasn’t even the slight burn of stretching that he’d come to enjoy, just hot, sweet, wet pleasure.

The noises coming out of Molly were far from dignified, he was moaning happily at each glance of Caleb’s tip against the spot that had been too much to be pressed on but felt amazing like this. He rolled his hips in rhythm with Caleb’s movement, sobbing when he figured out how to angle just right so that Caleb’s cock rubbed his clit when he pulled out.

“Ohhhhhh, fuck, baby, yes, feels so good,” Molly moaned.

“You feel amazing.” Caleb’s voice was broken and desperate, his breath ragged on Molly’s shoulder. He started to move faster, gripping Molly’s thigh tighter, and Molly’s eyes rolled back as his whole body started to shake. Powerful emotions, want and vulnerability and love and gratitude, rolled through him. He felt those three words he wanted to say on the tip of his tongue, he just had to open his mouth and they’d fall out, and he clutched Caleb’s shoulders tighter and hid his face and bit his lip to keep his mouth shut. His whole body was alight with pleasure, radiating through him, and he felt Caleb’s thrusts start to stutter a little, and breathless whispering in his ear that he didn’t understand,

_“Götter, Molly, ich brauche dich... Ich bin verrückt nach dir, du schöner, lächerlicher Mann, ich denke ich könnte-”_

“Cum for me, baby,” Molly hissed in his ear and Caleb let out a strangled gasp, pushing his hips up into Molly’s as he trembled through an intense orgasm. Molly was just on the edge of being too worked up not to cum and he rubbed his clit quickly, trying to eke out a final climax. The pulsing heat of Caleb releasing inside him, the warm wet where their bodies joined, was enough to send him over a third peak with a shuddering sigh, this orgasm far less intense but deeply satisfying.

Molly pulled back and sealed his mouth against Caleb’s right away, hazy and floating and bone tired all at once. The air was thick with sweat and sex and their soft sighs. Molly could tell he was leaking over the sheets as Caleb softened but didn’t quite have enough functional brain left to care.

“How are you feeling?” Caleb murmured, kissing the corner of Molly’s mouth gently. “If you are wanting more, the hour is not up yet and if you want to keep going…”

“Gods, I think I’d just melt into a puddle. No, I’m more than satisfied.”

Molly didn’t want any part of him to stop touching Caleb. He ran his hands over sweat damp skin and counted freckles and brushed Caleb’s awry hair out of his face. He was feeling strangely vulnerable in this moment, more so than usual, and felt a rock deep in the pit of his stomach at the idea that Caleb would get up after this and they’d go their separate ways just like any other time. Caleb never skimped on aftercare, and this hadn’t even involved anything that might cause Molly pain, but nonetheless he felt like his heart had been sliced open and its contents spilled out on display. He needed closeness with Caleb and tried to push down any trepidation about whether he was opening himself up to getting hurt by indulging that need.

“Can I get you some water?” Molly hoped his inner turmoil wasn’t evident on his face.

“Yeah, that’d be nice. Um…can I stay here for a little bit?” Caleb furrowed his brow.

“Ja? I assumed you would?”

“No I know but I mean…I just want to spend a little more time-“ _together_ , his brain filled in. “-um, just not alone for a bit.” Caleb took Molly’s hand and kissed his knuckles.

“You can always stay as long as you like. Let me get you some water. Do you want a drink?” Molly nodded. Caleb picked up Molly’s robe and draped it over his shoulders. “I have some, ah, warmer things in the closet, if this is not enough. I will be back in just a moment, unless you do not want me to leave?”

“No, I’m alright, as long as you come back.”

“Always.” He gave Molly a small smile, pulled on his pajama pants and stepped out the door. Molly put his robe on properly but still found himself shivering. He hesitated. _Well, he did offer._ Padding over to Caleb’s closet, Molly found his underwear and put those back on too. The wardrobe was shamefully bare, and Molly resolved that he should convince Caleb to let him pick out more clothes for him. He found Caleb’s robe, much thicker and warmer and more practical than his own and put it on, shedding his silky one onto the floor.

Snuggling into the soft fabric instantly relaxed him. It smelled like Caleb, that familiar, intimate scent he’d come to crave. Molly returned to the bed, folding his legs up under him and curling into the too-big robe. Caleb came back in with a pitcher of water and two glasses with more amber whiskey and, Molly noticed, a little purple cherry in the bottom of one. Caduceus had made those stewed cherries over the summer, cooking them down with brandy, and made the group drinks one night with whiskey - iced tea for himself and Jester - and those cherries and Molly had loved it.

“I can’t believe you remembered those drinks Cad made all those months ago.”

“Ah, I don’t forget anything. How are you feeling?” He took Molly’s free hand and massaged it gently. Molly was quiet for a moment.

“I feel…I don’t know.” Caleb put his glass aside and held Molly’s hand with two. He didn’t say anything, just waited patiently for Molly to elaborate, if he wanted to.

“Would you like to discuss it?” He asked, when Molly didn’t continue.

“Um, I think maybe I need to think about it for a little bit. If that’s alright.”

“Ja, of course it is. What would you like for now, _Schatz_? I can rub your hands, or your back, we can talk, or not, whatever you want. Do you want me to keep touching you?”

“Yeah, that’s nice.” Caleb nodded and kept stroking Molly’s hand and wrist. He waited quietly to see if Molly said anything more.

“That was intense,” Molly said quietly, after a long few minutes of silence.

“In a good way, or not so good?”

“Mostly good.” Molly’s emotions were starting to crystallize, as he went over the feelings in his head and tried to find words for them. “I um…I know this sounds really silly, probably, but in a way, it feels like…I don’t know, it feels like I had my first time again.” Caleb’s hands froze for a split second and then continued their soothing motion.

“I don’t think it’s silly at all,” he said slowly. “It is…a brand new experience for you. I can imagine it would be a bit overwhelming. It makes sense.”

“I guess…I don’t know, maybe I’m being weird, but…I felt safe with you, doing that, um, new thing. And I’m just feeling appreciative that I'm safe with you.”

“I appreciate you telling me that.” Molly felt warmth grow in his belly again, warmer and warmer, and he shifted in discomfort as his body reverted to its former state.

“What was your first time like?” Caleb asked softly. “You don’t have to answer, I'm just curious.” Molly shrugged.

“Nothing special. Pretty sure I was drunk and just picked up a stranger, not long after I woke up, so I don’t remember that well. I remember my first time bottoming better. It was…scary. I mean, good, it was good, I just remember having a lot of fear about you know, not hurting myself, and realizing part of the way through I didn’t really trust the guy I was with to prevent that.” He was quiet for a minute. “But I think that was kind of good for me, in a way? I don’t know how to explain it. I remember arguing with myself like, okay, what _if_ I get hurt and can’t sit down for a week? I’ll deal with it. I can take care of myself.”

Caleb sat up and took his drink back, still holding Molly’s hand.

“I mean, you remember how I asked you about this to begin with,” Molly continued. “Said I needed someone to slap my head on straight once in a while. It really did start out like that, after I woke up. I…wanted someone to hurt me when I was vulnerable. I wanted to show myself I could handle it, someone could beat the shit out of me and I could stitch myself up and keep moving, you know? I needed to know that no matter what life threw at me I’d pick myself up after.” Molly saw Caleb’s expression and squeezed his hand. “Not with you. That’s not what this is for me. It’s…healthier. You still smack my head on straight but in a different way.”

“Thank you for sharing that with me,” Caleb whispered, tracing the lines of Molly’s snake tattoo over his arm.

“Sorry, um, I didn’t mean to get so deep.” Molly laughed self-consciously. “Uh, what about you? Your first time, I mean. Probably more memorable, yeah?”

“Ah, ja, it was a good experience.” Caleb kept his eyes on Molly’s tattoos, still tracing them with his fingers. “I was young, though, just seventeen, and I really did not know what I was doing. I was very nervous, self conscious about everything and wondering if I was doing it right. I just remember everything being so…intense. Like you said. Everything was brand new.”

“And it was with someone you loved,” Molly said softly. Caleb hesitated.

“Ja, it was. And my first time with a man, it was not ah, someone I _loved_ per se, but I trusted him, and that made it much easier. Still…special. And scary. But I was not worried for myself, if that makes sense.” He looked up at Molly. “I am sorry you did not have that as well. And I am…touched. That you feel safe enough with me despite all that.”

“Well, it helps that I know you,” Molly laughed. “I’m not worried I’m accidentally going to bed with a murderer or something.”

Caleb averted his eyes and covered his tensed jaw with a a sip of his drink. The bottom dropped out of Molly’s stomach again, the way it had that time that Caleb had panicked in bed and he just knew in his gut that they’d touched one of the wounds that festered in his chest. _Fuck._ He didn’t know how to move on from that. Thankfully Caleb saved him.

“I’m glad I meet your discerning standards,” Caleb teased with a smirk. “But really, that was…a very private thing that you have shared with me. Thank you.” Molly’s gaze drifted to where Caleb was still absentmindedly tracing Molly’s tattoos, and he scanned the bare forearms, littered with scars.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“You don’t have to answer. Um…” Molly lay his hand on Caleb’s wrist, not touching any of the scars, but clearly pointing at them. “What are these?”

Caleb was quiet for a long few minutes. Molly thought about reminding him he didn’t have to answer but he knew he had a bad habit of babbling to fill silence and tried to just let Caleb process and articulate on his own.

“They are from my time at the Academy.” Molly’s brow furrowed. “The teacher I spoke of, who trained me, he was trying to do some…experiments. There is a special mineral that comes from Tal’dorei with great arcane capability. He wanted to know if he could implant that mineral in our skin. I still do not know why, exactly. But ah, these experiments, that is what these are from.”

Molly felt hollowed out. Someone hurt Caleb _on purpose_ , badly enough to scar him like this, over and over and over again. That empty space was filled with hot, boiling fury, climbing up his throat like vomit. His tail lashed behind him angrily, his pulse hammering in his ears. He was going to take great delight in flaying the skin off that man’s bones.

“Mollymauk?” Fuck, he had just been sitting there. Caleb told him this horrible, traumatic, vulnerable thing and he just stared at him like an idiot.

“I - I’m sorry, I just - that makes me angry. That someone did that to you.” It made him more than angry but he wasn’t trying to make this about him.

“Ah, it is in the past, ja?” Caleb fingered the amulet around his neck absentmindedly. “It was a long time ago.”

The anger roiling through him was doused immediately by a wave of heavy grief. He thought of Caleb, alone, strapped to a chair, while someone sliced open his perfect, beautiful skin. Nobody was there to help him, or hear him scream, or answer his pleas for mercy. In his fantasy, he’d burst in and cut this “teacher” to ribbons and save the boy who would become the man he loved now, but that wasn’t how it happened. Instead Caleb suffered alone and carried deep, angry scars on his arms and inside his mind.

He just wrapped his arms around Caleb and held him tight. He wanted to say it, so badly, but not now, it would seem like pity, it would seem like he was trying to make Caleb feel better, and if he did ever say it out loud it deserved something better than that. He hoped he was communicating it with his actions. He curled his tail around Caleb’s leg. A hesitant pair of arms slid around his waist.

“Can I ask _you_ something?”

“Always,” Molly mumbled, his face squished against Caleb’s chest.

“Could I um, hold your tail?” Molly laughed in surprise at Caleb’s shyness.

“Of course!” He uncoiled it from Caleb’s calf and fluttered it near his face.

“I just…I’m curious about it. If that’s okay.”

“Perfectly okay.” Caleb ran his hand over the smooth length, rubbing the spade in his palm.

“It’s soft. You can hold things with it, though.”

“Well I couldn’t exactly whip a soufflé with it but yeah, I can grab onto stuff. Pretty useful, honestly, everyone should have one.” Caleb’s hand moved further up where Molly’s tail grew thicker, and when his fingers circled the base Molly made a deep, involuntary purr. Caleb yanked his hand back.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be sorry, feels good.” Molly wiggled his eyebrows and stretched out.

“Is it…sensitive? Like…sexually?” Molly shook his head.

“Not really. It feels good to touch, but more like, I don’t know, a scalp massage or something.” He downed the rest of his drink and rolled fully on his stomach, giving Caleb more access.

“I like it,” Caleb murmured, his face red.

“Glad to hear you haven’t found it hideous this entire time.” Caleb chuckled.

“That is not what I meant, _Schatz_.”

“What’s that word mean?” Caleb froze.

“Hmm?”

“You keep saying it. Is it just another way to say my pet name?” Caleb was quiet for a second.

“Ah, well, not quite, it is, um, sort of a term of endearment, it means “treasure”, but, ah, it does not need to be _romantic_ necessarily. I, I can stop saying it, if it makes you uncomfortable-“

“I like it.” Molly gave him a shy smile. Caleb smiled back. “Hey, um, could I maybe stay here tonight? I’m just feeling a little…vulnerable. But if not that’s okay!”

“Of course you can,” Caleb said quickly. “I would like for you to stay more.” He flushed and closed his mouth. _I would like to stay more._ But Molly didn’t say that. “I hope it will not bother you, though, I do sometimes read in the night, when I cannot sleep, and I, um, do need the light, but if that would be okay…”

“No problem at all. What are you reading?”

“Just the book I got at the smut shop. I could read a bit to you, if you would like.”

“That sounds lovely.” He snuggled further into Caleb’s robe and under the covers as Caleb got up to rummage around on his desk for the book. When he turned back, he looked at Molly, whose head was basically the only thing peeking out of the blankets, and bit back a laugh.

“What’s so funny?”

“I thought tieflings were supposed to be warmer than the rest of us,” he teased. Molly scowled from his flannel and quilt cocoon.

“Bold words for a man I wouldn’t have to leave my blanket roll to bite.”

“Promises, promises.” Caleb grinned and opened his book.

“Wait, c’mere.” Molly popped up out of his nest to wrap his arms around Caleb’s neck and give him a long, deep kiss. “I didn’t say goodnight yet.”

“I don’t think I heard you the first time,” Caleb murmured, going in for a second with a smile. When Molly finally settled back in, Caleb opened to where he was and started reading quietly, his low, accented voice lulling Molly’s lids shut minute by minute.

As he drifted off, Molly knew in his gut that he was in love. And what was more, he thought Caleb felt it too, if not love, something substantial between them. He wanted to say it so badly. He wanted to get to tell him all the time, to murmur it when they had sex and when they woke up in the morning and when he woke up at his desk with half his hair sticking up.

He knew that if he was wrong, that might be the end of things between them. If he told Caleb how he felt and it turned out he didn’t feel the same. But he also knew if he kept letting himself fall deeper and deeper, and convinced himself that these feelings were shared, it would tear him apart if they weren’t. Tonight made him realize that these feelings were leading him to open up to Caleb in a way he hadn’t to anyone, and he was running straight into heartbreak if he kept doing that without clarifying this thing that was hanging unnamed in the space between their kisses.

So maybe he would tell him. Just put it all out there and see what happened. Molly fell asleep listening to Caleb’s soothing voice while his free hand carded through Molly’s hair.

The next day, everything fell apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (German: Gods, Molly, I need you...I'm crazy about you, you beautiful, ridiculous man, I think I might-)
> 
> Sorry to leave y'all on that one. 😬 Another chapter running away from me at 9k and leaving me no choice but to cliffhanger. Or maybe I, like our wizard, just like to drag things out.... 😈


	10. sing for the flames that will rip through here and the smoke that will carry us away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Caleb exhibiting symptoms of PTSD, canon-typical violence
> 
> Take care of yourselves!!

Molly expected to feel nervous energy radiating from Caleb as they walked through the Bastion’s halls, but he didn’t. He didn’t know if that was better, or worse. It was best, he knew, not to acknowledge any anxiety if Caleb wasn’t showing it, particularly not in front of Essek or the rest of the Nein, and he didn’t want to come off as being overly concerned about Caleb and risk revealing more than he wanted to the group. But he longed to take Caleb’s hand and walk beside him, provide some semblance of comfort on this long walk through the dank dungeon underneath the Bastion. He stayed back with Jester.

When they finally stopped in front of the door to the Scourger’s cell, Caleb looked back and his eyes fell on Molly. They weren’t scared. They were just…hurting. He looked over at Jester too and she stepped forward, gesturing for Molly to follow. The two tieflings followed Caleb into the cell, quietly taking up residence in each corner nearest the door. Molly’s heart caught when he saw her. There she sat, slumped in a chair, chained. Her dark hair was matted and tangled in front of her face. She looked barely human. She looked like the walking dead.

Caleb sat on the floor, directly in front of her.

_“Ich werde bestätigen, was Sie bereits wissen.”_

Zemnian. Right. Because this was what Caleb was supposed to become. This girl, she’d been like him once. It was only too easy for Molly to imagine him sitting there instead. _You knew this. You knew what he was trained to be._ But really, Molly didn’t know. He didn’t know until he saw this woman. When she finally lifted her head and answered him, her voice was hoarse, and broken.

_“Es spielt keine Rolle, oder?”_

Something in Molly’s gut told him he still didn’t really know. Since he didn’t understand the conversation, all he could do was look at their body language. Her body language. The dimness of her eyes. The way a smile teased the corners of her mouth as she discussed what Molly could only imagine was her impending execution in a calm and even tone. As he watched them go back and forth, he knew she was dead already. She was just…waiting. Molly couldn’t see Caleb’s face well from this angle, behind him, but he could see the slight shake in the man’s hands. He wanted to hold him. He wanted to shut his eyes and kiss all this away. Caleb was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice shook. It sounded like he was struggling to get the words out, like he was choked up.

_“Ich weiß nicht wie meine Brüder und Schwestern es ertragen könnten, diesen Mantel der Loyalität zu tragen, weil ich weiß, dass er so gründlich aus Sünde gewebt wurde. Und es tut mir sehr leid für dich.”_

His eyes caught on her forearms as she responded. Scarred. Marked. Bile rose in his throat. The difference between Caleb and this woman was balanced on a knife’s edge. They’d been hurt, manipulated, abused. If this woman was a lost cause…wasn’t Caleb too? And if he wasn’t, as Molly believed he wasn’t, then couldn’t she be saved?

There was a shift in the conversation. Tension rose in Caleb’s speech with every word he uttered and she slung it right back at him. Molly knew mockery when he saw it, whether he comprehended the terms of it or not, and he wanted to slap it off her face. He was startled from his reverie, in which the conversation was a background lull, when she leaned forward in her chair, her chains pulling and rattling, reverberating through the otherwise empty chamber. The contempt dripping from her lips was obvious as she leaned down Caleb, who sat, unmoving, and whispered,

_“Nun, ich war schon immer etwas ungeduldig.”_

In a flash, a scrape of metal across the floor and a sickening, wet sound and Molly’s stomach twists and the air leaves his lungs as he sees a spray of blood arc out of Caleb’s neck. The Scourger’s hand pulls back and Molly leaps forward to grab it, but Caleb’s arm comes up and backhands her across the face with the black stone he keeps on his belt. Her head snaps aside and then all hell breaks loose, Jester immediately dives in and cuts the Scourger upside the head with her shield, and an animal snarl tears out of Molly’s throat as he forces his arm between Caleb and the woman, grabs Caleb around the chest and pulls him back. The feeling of hot blood - _Caleb’s blood_ \- soaking into his shirtsleeve made his stomach turn. He forced down the dizziness and nausea and kept his hand pressed against the wound so tight he’s worried he’ll cut off Caleb’s air. _He’s fine, he’s fine, we have healers, Cad and Jester will take care of him,_ but gods, there’s so much blood, it’s seeping between his fingers, and he has a hysterical notion of scooping it up and putting it back inside but he just keeps up the pressure as the woman’s body is shot through with crossbow bolts. A hoarse,

_“Wait!”_

-bursts from Caleb, slumped against him, but it’s too late. Molly can see out of the corner of his eye Essek making an upward motion with his hand, a gentle movement so at odds with the violence it generates. Suspended in the air, the Scourger starts to choke, blood trickling out of the corners of her mouth as her windpipe crumples. Essek’s head turns to Caleb. Before Molly can stop him, Caleb pulls away, pressing his own palm against the still bleeding wound, and stands in front of the Scourger. His free hand lifts, and his fist clenches shut. The body of the woman crumples to the ground. Molly’s hands are slick with blood.

Caleb kneels, wipes her hair out of her face, whispers something Molly doesn’t hear. When he finally turns back to them, Molly doesn’t recognize the man standing in front of him, and he is no longer sure he knows the man he loves as well as he thought he did.

~~~

Molly found himself pulling away from Caleb after that. He couldn’t say why at first, chalked it up to the hole in his heart that had been left by Yasha’s kidnapping, he wasn’t in the mood, and left unexamined the fact that that didn’t seem to matter before the Scourger. Then he started having dreams again, those dreams, and as much as he thought about knocking on Caleb’s door, his legs wouldn’t take him there. He dosed himself with booze and Caduceus’s tea and prayed for a little sleep.

Caleb didn’t invite Molly in either. The wizard looked more harrowed and haunted with each passing day that brought them closer to Rexxentrum. Molly doubted he was sleeping all that well either.

He just wanted to talk but he didn’t know what to say, he didn’t even know what he wanted to say. His head was a mess and his heart was sick. He couldn’t even articulate exactly what about the incident with the Scourger had troubled him so much. Gods knew every one of the Nein had their secrets, even sweet, trusting Jester. Molly had his own. That wasn’t it. But he didn’t know what it was, and he needed time, and space, to figure it out.

The pause in their sexual relationship didn’t stop Molly from checking in with Caleb, but his attempts to initiate conversation or provide a little reassurance about their impending arrival in the Empire’s capitol were obstructed by whatever was wedged between them, the something that had caused the hiatus in their intimacy - Molly wouldn’t let himself think of it as an end - before they could penetrate into anything important.

When he lay in bed at night, Molly pondered some of the questions that had been wrapped around his heart like barbed wire ever since the dungeon. What did it mean that Caleb had once been like that woman? Were all those pieces of that person excised or would there always be shards of the would-be Scourger in there? Is that what he saw, who he saw, in Caleb’s face that day as he looked in her eyes and gave Essek permission to kill her? If he could be saved, couldn’t she? Could Caleb ever look at him like that?

There were parts of Caleb he didn’t know, and he’d always been aware of that. Molly had lived his life thus far with the conviction that he didn’t need to know things about people that they didn’t want to share. He had plenty of things he didn’t share with just anyone who asked. He was okay with not knowing all of Caleb’s secrets. But when he looked into the dead eyes of the Scourger, he wasn’t so sure anymore that he was okay not knowing. Or maybe, it was that his feelings for Caleb were forcing him to choose. He could either accept not knowing and keep Caleb at arm’s length for fear of what might be hiding under his bandages, or undress those wounds and maybe, hopefully, keep loving him with eyes wide open. Yet, he felt he had no right to ask. So he floated in this limbo that tore at his edges like a stitch ripper pulling out a seam, because inertia was easier than any course of action, particularly with so much on the Nein’s plate and ever increasing urgency ratcheting up the pressure.

Bruised, bloodied and broken as he was, when Molly wrapped his arms around Yasha for the first time in months, the floodgates opened. She clutched him in a crumpled heap on the ground, her body shaking against his as he sobbed into her embrace. Just breathing in her familiar, papaya blossom scent, faint as it was under the tang of blood and steel in the air, broke him apart.

He loved her fiercely, and he would never let anyone take her away again. She had so much healing to do, but she was here and she was whole and she was with them. Molly kissed her face like he could pull her pain out through her skin and make it his, and he would’ve done it in a heartbeat if it were possible. Gradually, the other members of the Nein came in and embraced Yasha, and their little family was whole again.

The bliss was brief as they were called to an audience with the King. Molly tried to lighten the mood with a joke about how fitting it was that they were going to report to King Dwendal still covered in blood and filth, but only Jester laughed. Once in the castle, Caleb was more of a wreck than Molly had ever seen him. He slumped down against the wall in the room they were waiting in and curled into his knees. Molly lowered himself to the floor beside him.

“Hey. Don’t have to say anything. Just…we’re here, okay?” _I’m here_ , he wanted to say. “I know this is hard for you. If you need to talk…I’ll be there.”

“Thank you, Mollymauk.” Caleb’s voice was weak. Molly sat in silence, his knees curled up into his chest too. He still didn’t understand exactly what this city meant to Caleb, other than that he’d been schooled here, but based on what he saw in that cell and what little he knew of Caleb’s time at the Academy, that alone was enough to provoke an extreme reaction.

He tried not to look at Caleb too much while they spoke to the King, and he knew he should be paying attention, but the words were background noise. He couldn’t process any of it when Caleb looked like he was barely holding himself together. He was pale, and sweating, and Molly could see the tremor in his hands from ten feet away.

“Especially you…Bren.”

By the time Molly connected the dots about who the man was, he was no longer in striking distance, and probably for the better. Hot rage churned inside him, his blood felt like it was burning, boiling him alive. It was too easy to picture that disgusting, horrid man beating Caleb, shoving crystals into his arms, gods knew what else. _Without his magic tricks, he’s just a frail old man. Wouldn’t fare any better than the rest of us against a sword in the throat._ Molly bit his tongue until he tasted blood. Before he could think better of it, he faked a yawn, covered his mouth and whispered the command words to Hunter’s Mark the old man. A plan was coming together in his brain, nothing dramatic, certainly reckless, but Molly had never been one for sitting around and waiting for things to happen.

When the Nein exited the castle, Molly put his hand on Jester’s arm.

“Hey, listen, I’m going to walk about for a bit before heading back to the inn, yeah? I just need to clear my head. I won’t be long.” He kept his voice low.

“Do you need any healing first?” Truth be told, Molly did, but he wanted to slip away as inconspicuously as possible and they’d have to stop for a minute for Jester to give him anything meaningful.

“Nah, I’m alright. I’ll see you back at the inn. Take care of Yasha for me?” Jester nodded.

“Okay, just be careful, Molly.”

“When have you ever known me not to be?” He winked and gave her a peck on the head before silently breaking off from the group and turning back towards the castle.

 _I just want to see where he lives. That’s all. Doing recon for the group. Just taking a stroll around the Shimmer Ward to get out some of my energy, if anyone asks. Walking’s not illegal._ He didn’t know who he was trying to convince. The gate to the Candles was manned, unsurprisingly, but Molly walked up with confidence to the nearest Crownsguard.

“G’day, gentlemen. I’m coming from His Majesty’s abode, some of the Assembly just had a meeting and I’m afraid Master Ikithon left some of his personal effects behind. I was requested to return them if you might direct me to his residence?” The guard looked Molly up and down with a raised eyebrow. He was keenly aware that he was spattered with dried blood and gods knew what other effluvia, but held the guard’s gaze like nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Listen, I know you’re weighing whether to let me in or not, but I’m not sure you’re going to want to be the reason Master Ikithon doesn’t get these notes.” That did it. The man gruffly waved Molly through.

“Be quick about your business. His tower’s got manors on the grounds, none of the rest of ‘em do.”

“Much obliged.” Molly slipped the man a gold. He was too distinctive looking to bother ever trying to disguise himself, so Molly usually opted for radiating a sense of belonging. The directions from the guard proved superfluous, as his mark started to tug at the edges of his awareness, a slight hum that let him know he was getting closer to his quarry.

The tower was an imposing structure, a glassy obsidian spire thrust into the sky. It had only one obvious entrance, though Molly was sure there were hidden ones, and no crenellations or other external accents that could be used for entry. Molly didn’t even see windows. Fitting. He strolled past the main door with a quick glance behind him to ensure nobody was watching, circling the base of the tower and looking for windows or doors as surreptitiously as he could, continuing to walk with purpose.

He spotted a crack in the stone, only obvious because the rest of the facade was so seamless, and put his hand against it, trying to figure out if it was illusory or perhaps hiding a trigger-

“Can I help you with something?” A Zemnian voice asked. Molly jumped and whipped around. A young human man in uniform was looking at him with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

“Oh! Yes, actually.” Molly gave a winning, innocent smile. “I was actually just in a meeting with Master Ikithon and I’m afraid he left some of his personal items behind at the castle. I was going this way so I offered to drop them by.” He had no plan. No plan at all. What the fuck was he going to do if this guy asked him to hand these supposed items over? The man stared at Molly with hard eyes.

“Come with me.” Molly’s brain was whirring. Surely this man hadn’t bought his bullshit. He started cataloguing what was in his pouches, trying to think of something he could pass off as having accidentally been ascribed to the mage. Maybe something generic, like a coin pouch or a quill? If he stuck to it, maybe the man would just take it and he could go.

TheScourger led Molly up the steps of the main door and closed it firmly behind him.

“Thanks for showing me to the front, I just have this coin purse here we spotted left at his seat-“

“Why don’t you tell me what you’re really doing here?” The man’s voice was low and dangerous.

“I’m afraid nothing more exciting than returning some lost property.” Molly proffered the leather pouch but the man didn’t take it.

“I will give you one more opportunity to tell the truth.”

“I swear, it really is just this little errand, if you’ll just take it to him I’ll be on my way-“

Pain radiated through Molly’s skull and darkness took him before he could finish the lie.

~~~

The world spun mercilessly when Molly came back to consciousness. His arms were bound behind his back and cuffed, and he couldn’t sit upright. Everything was sore, and his back was scraped bloody.

“Pelor’s balls,” he grumbled, pain exploding behind his eyes as bright light appeared before him. The scrape of metal filled his ears and a rough hand dragged him by the collar out of what he guessed to be a cage. As his eyes adjusted, he saw the same Scourger from before, the man with narrow gray eyes and jet black hair cropped close. He was muscular with tanned skin and high cheekbones. With him stood a halfling woman, blue eyed with thick hair gone prematurely gray, tied atop her head. Even from his bound position, lying on his side, Molly could see his pack, contents spilled across the floor. How much did they know about him now? How much trouble was he in? He let his head fall back to the floor. Gods, he’d really made a mess of things. _That’s what you get for being impulsive._ Caleb’s voice echoed in his head, _You_ will _learn to control your desires, Mollymauk_ , and he could’ve laughed at how absurdly inappropriate the thought was at this moment.

Nobody knew he was here. He could be anywhere in the city right now, as far as his friends knew. The man lifted him up by the coat again and shoved him into a chair.

“Relax, Mister Tealeaf, we merely have a few questions for you.”

“I’d prefer not to answer anything you had to chain me up to ask, if it’s all the same to you,” he sniped. The man chuckled.

“Here are your choices. You can tell us what we want to know, and we’ll let you walk free, no harm, no foul, or we can drag you in front of the Starosta and you can explain what you were doing skulking around the private residence of one of the most important members of the Cerberus Assembly.” Molly had absolutely no faith that these individuals would let him go. If he answered their questions they’d dispose of him afterwards like last night’s garbage. If he didn’t, they’d do the same. His options weren’t looking very appealing at the moment, but the illusion of cooperation would buy him some time to figure something else out.

“What do you want to know?”

“Your participation is appreciated, Mister Tealeaf,” the woman said. “First, you should know this whole area is warded to the hells and back. Your manacles will prevent any spell casting and we’ll know if you try, so I suggest against trying anything.” They didn’t know he wasn’t a caster, so that was good at least. Maybe they knew less than they were making it appear they did.

“We already know quite a bit about you,” the man continued. He pulled out a few items he’d retrieved from Molly’s pack. The sigil of the Bright Queen. His symbol of the Moonweaver. “These things alone are enough to get you in quite a bit of trouble. Forbidden worship. A badge marking you as a Dynasty loyalist. And of course, you’re easily recognized as a member of the mercenary group who calls themselves the ‘Mighty Nein’, whose activities have not inspired confidence in their loyalty. So we have quite a bit to start with.”

He nodded to the woman, who made a gesture with her hand and murmured a few words. Molly felt a powerful compulsion to honesty that he tried to push back against, but the fog washed over him anyway. She nodded at the other Scourger. Molly knew this spell, and that he didn’t have to answer anything, but also knew the Scourgers weren’t stupid, and their questions would likely be asked to favor binary choices, making his silence as obvious as a verbal answer.

“You worship the entity known as the Moonweaver, correct?”

“Yes.” Against his better judgment, Molly hoped their questions might all be this easy. Keep it about him, and the things they already knew or that were obvious about him. He wasn’t ashamed of any of that.

“And how did you come to that?”

This line of questioning went on for a short time, and Molly answered freely. They already knew he worshipped a forbidden deity, what was there to hide? He was a bit more careful answering about the Bright Queen and the Dynasty; those answers had consequences for other people.

“Do you consider yourself an ally of the Kryn Dynasty?” Molly paused.

“No.” The Scourgers looked at one another - the spell was still up, so they knew he was being honest.

“Then how did you come to carry this emblem of the Queen?” Molly related the story of returning the beacon, again certain that all of this was information they already had.

“But I don’t think any of us are on any side here. We’d like to see the war finished, to the benefit of all.”

The two huddled and conferred in tones too low for Molly to hear. He desperately hoped Jester would try to Scry on him, or Locate him, or something. He had no clue how long he was unconscious, though, and it could’ve been well within a normal absence. Molly held on to the idea that she might have tried Sending him, and gotten suspicious at his lack of response. He wasn’t going to count on that though; he carefully ran his fingers over the bits of chain he could reach, trying to figure out if there was any bit of weakness, a link he could slip a nail into and wedge open. The only real hope he had was to get the jump on them and get a hand on his swords. Even then… The man walked back over to Molly.

“Interesting you refer to ‘we’. You are close with this group, then.”

“Yes.”

“What do you know about the activities of Bren Ermendrud over the last five years?” Molly’s pulse started to run faster. He didn’t want to implicate Caleb in anything, and in this situation, his words could be as damning as his silence. Molly shrugged as well as he could with the manacles.

“We’ve only been a group for a bit less than a year, so I can’t say I know much about what he was doing before we met.” That was the truth; what little he knew only extended back six months prior, to when he and Nott met. Whatever Caleb was doing before that was a mystery to him.

“What about since you’ve met?” Molly chose his stories carefully, giving a few examples of anodyne jobs they’d run, keeping away from anything related to Xhorhas. He did his best to give the impression that Caleb was just another member of the team, and one he didn’t know all that well at that.

“What is your relationship with Mister Ermendrud?”

“We’re members of a team.”

“You are as close with him as you are with other members of the group, then?” Molly looked for an out. He couldn’t force his mouth to form a lie.

“Yasha is my best friend.”

“That isn’t what I asked, Mister Tealeaf. Are you friends with Ermendrud?”

“…Yes.” He prayed they’d leave it at that but he was starting to sweat.

“Anything more?” Molly stayed silent and kept his head turned down. He saw the Scourger’s eyes light up like a cat who caught a mouse. All of a sudden, his world went sideways and pain exploded in the side of his head as the man kicked the chair over with him in it. Molly gritted his teeth and tasted blood.

“I asked you a question.” Why the fuck did he care so much? Why keep asking when he clearly knew the fucking answer?

“Who cares?” Molly managed through a clenched jaw. The man’s wet, filthy boot pressed down on his cheek, scraping his bleeding head on the floor.

“I care, because I fucking asked you.”

“Wulf!” The halfling woman’s voice was sharp. “Is this really necessary to what we’re trying to achieve here?” The pressure let up, slowly, and the man, Wulf, righted Molly in his chair. Hot wet trickled down the side of his face and he spat blood out of his mouth. His head had been knocked around so much he felt nauseous, but he’d swallow his bile a thousand times before he’d show weakness in front of these people. Wulf leaned back against the wall and let the halfling take over.

“Clearly, you have a great deal of loyalty to Mister Ermendrud, whatever the cause.” Her tone was conversational, but Molly knew she wouldn’t tolerate any cheek from him any better than Wulf had. “I wonder how much he’s told you about his time in this city.” Molly hadn’t been asked a question, so he stayed quiet, eyes still downcast. The truth was that Caleb had told him near nothing, but they obviously already knew everything about that time in his life, so Molly wasn’t sure where this line of thought was going. The Scourger pulled up another chair directly across from him and stared into his eyes.

“Who cares?” Molly repeated with a defiant snarl.

“Oh, I think you do. I find it fascinating that you maintain such devotion to a turncoat and a murderer.” Molly did his best not to let any reaction show on his face. She was trying to anger him, goad him into giving up more information, and he wouldn’t.

“Did he ever tell you why he isn’t the one standing down here kicking the piss out of you? Why he didn’t make it?” Molly was silent. The halfling woman leaned closer, close enough to kiss him almost. “He went mad. He murdered his traitor parents, burned them to death in their own home, and went mad. They had to lock him away for over a decade.” _She’s fucking lying to you. She’ll say anything she thinks will provoke a reaction._ Still, a small corner of his heart wondered if it might be true. If even part of it might be true. The eyes of the woman in the prison flashed back at him.

“Some just cannot handle the pressure of the job. Did you know any of that?” Molly didn’t answer, didn’t look at her. She searched his face and tutted. “He didn’t tell you. That’s a shame. You are so willing to bleed to protect him but he clearly doesn’t have the same loyalty to you.” Her words felt like shards of glass in his skin, needling and hot, no matter how much he told himself she was lying through her teeth.

“You see,” the Scourger continued. “The Assembly put him away in an institution, a place where he would be safe and no longer a danger to others, or himself. Paid for it out of their own pockets too, to be sure he got the care he needed. For over ten years, he ranted and raved about taking down the Assembly, how evil they all were, blamed _them_ for his madness. When he finally escaped, he killed one of our own and vanished into the night.” Her face was a perfect mask of concern, one born of years of training in mimicking sincere human emotion.

“Wulf, this all seems to be a bit overwhelming for our charge, here. Why don’t we give him a break?”

She turned away from Molly and started up the stairs, gesturing for Wulf to follow her. Their steps faded away, and exhaustion and pain and fear soaked into Molly. He suddenly felt every wound he’d taken in the cathedral, how his heart had ripped open and bled a hundred different ways that day. He was being kicked around in a dank basement and he’d probably die here if he couldn’t find a way out of these fucking handcuffs. _Why did you come here?_ Truth spells or no, he couldn’t answer that question. What did he think he’d find? Something that would settle the churning of his heart and mind over this man he really, _really_ didn’t know anything about? Had he hoped to talk to the monster who made him, reckon with him, exact vengeance for what he’d done? _Even you aren’t stupid enough to think that would’ve been anything but creative suicide._

It felt like an eternity and only a second before the footsteps returned, growing louder and louder until the two Scourgers reappeared at the bottom of the stairs. The woman had a glass of water in hand.

“I thought you might be thirsty.” She held it up to Molly’s lips. He made no move to drink it. She shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“Now, this is a dreadful business,” she continued. “And we don’t want to keep you here any longer than necessary.” She waved her hand again, casting Zone of Truth - Molly had lost count how many times she'd done it - and Molly’s exhausted, battered brain didn’t fight it. The man, Wulf, strode around Molly’s chair and stood over him, arms crossed. Molly looked up at him defiantly.

“I have lots of ways to make you talk, but I really don’t want to have to go there, so why don’t you just answer a few more questions and we’ll have you on your merry way?” He leaned close. “Besides, something tells me you’re used to getting pushed around.” Molly sneered and spit blood in his face. The mask dropped for a second as rage overtook the man’s expression, but flickered back on as he wiped it off.

“In the time you’ve known Bren Ermendrud, have you heard him speak about the Assembly?” Molly bit his tongue and clenched his jaw, staring straight ahead. “Discuss any plans to harm the Assembly or its members?” Nothing. “Interesting.” Molly knew his silence was as good as an answer, but he wasn’t going to give them what they wanted.

Vomit climbed up his throat, threatening to burst out, as he took a boot to the ribs. His chair flew sideways and his whole body skidded across the floor. Something was definitely broken in there, he could feel it, as he coughed violently.

“Now, now, let’s not get rough.” A barely familiar Zemnian voice filtered down the stairs and Wulf immediately stopped, dragging Molly upright into the chair. Blood smeared over half his face and was still coming, dripping down into the collar of his shirt. Gods, he wanted Jester and a hot fucking bath.

Both Scourgers snapped to attention as Trent Ikithon arrived in the room, seemingly unbothered by the spatters of Molly’s blood on the floor or the woozy, wounded tiefling strapped to a chair in his basement. He gave Molly a genteel smile, like he was embarrassed to be taking the last cream puff off a passed plate.

“I apologize for the zealotry of my assistant, they all take their work very seriously.” He sat in the chair across from Molly, smoothing his silk robes. “I have already sent a servant to retrieve your companions. I’m certain we can clear up this little misunderstanding.” Misunderstanding. As if Molly’s nose wasn’t dripping blood inches from the hem of his robes. He was confused though, was he actually just going to be…free to go? _Don’t trust him. He’s a fucking snake. They’re not coming._

“I’m sure we can,” Molly bit back.

“Mister Tealeaf, is it? I hope this misadventure has proven instructive. I would recommend against further skulking about my residence, it would be…shall we say, unwise.”

“Why are you letting me leave?” _If he is letting you leave._ Trent spread his hands.

“I don’t see any need to make this more of an ordeal than it must be. You did no harm to me or mine, and I trust you’ve learned your lesson.” Like Molly was a kid caught carving swear words into a tavern table. “I need not mention this to the Starosta, which would be certain to end poorly for you, given that you were discovered attempting to break into my tower, carrying on your person symbols of forbidden faith and a marker of your allegiance to the cricks. I let you go on your way, you’re no…much…worse for wear, and I trust you won’t come sniffing around here again. That sounds like a win-win to me.”

“A win-win would be me fucking slicing you open from neck to nuts.” Trent chuckled.

“I hardly see how that would constitute a win for me, Mister Tealeaf.”

“Your win is that I don’t rip your guts out with my bare fucking hands.” Trent smirked.

“You are as expert at running your mouth as they told me. I would shut it before it gets you in more trouble.” He chucked Molly under the chin and Molly was too taken aback to say something snarky. Turning to the Scourgers and standing, he sighed. “His friends are coming to get him. Crate him in the meantime.”

“Yes, Master Ikithon. Are you -“ the halfling woman stopped and cleared her throat. “Might you be needing additional security upstairs to monitor their arrival?”

“No need,” the mage said, already ascending to the first floor. “I instructed that they were permitted to bring two and no more.” Wulf yanked Molly around by the arm and shoved him back into the animal cage on the floor, locking it before turning to walk away.

“Hey,” Molly called. He stopped. “Feel bad for you.” Wulf turned.

“Me? I’m not the one caged like a fucking dog.”

“Nah, but the guy who holds your leash is so _old._ When you suck him off does it just pop dust at the end?” Molly added a winning smile. The Scourger whipped around and stalked off, muttering what were surely curses. Molly didn’t really think there was anything between this bruiser and the old mage, but he’d seemed to think that Molly’s sex life was a place he could needle and humiliate him. Molly often thought that what someone thought would hurt you really told you more about what would hurt them.

He kept working at the lock on his manacles with his nails. He couldn’t get it in all the way, he knew it wasn’t going to do much, but he had to keep trying. He had no faith at all that anyone was coming for him, and he wouldn’t wait here like a fox in Trent’s snare.

Eventually, he took a break, looking around for anything that might help him, any little piece of wood or stone even, that was within reach. Just a little shard of something someone forgot to sweep up, that’s all it’d take. The floor around him was bare and when Molly bent down to inspect the cage, looking for a weak spot, he lost his balance and tipped over, falling cheek first against the metal bottom. He was…tired. He was dizzy. Maybe he should just take a nap, just a short one, then he’d be able to think his way out of here…. Molly stretched his head to look down at his shirt. Soaked with blood. Fuck. He didn't realize he'd lost so much. _Don’t sleep, don’t sleep, don’t sleep,_ he repeated over and over again. He knew that falling asleep now would be it. He had to take advantage of this moment alone and find a way out. He had to make it back.

Molly squeezed his eyes shut and brought memories to the fore, things that reminded him what was waiting for him if he could make it out. He thought of braiding flowers into Yasha’s hair, curling up against her at night when the dreams became too much. Working in the garden at the Xhorhaus with Caduceus, feeling the living soil under his fingernails and his heart filling with wonder that the earth was birthing these plants like it had done him, though he hadn’t had Caduceus’s loving touch to coax him like they did. He thought about first meeting Beau, slamming back shots with her like there was no tomorrow because for them, there wasn’t, not one that mattered, but gods, Molly wanted another tomorrow, and another one after that. He thought about Caleb’s warm hands against his face, holding him, kissing him softly. All the pain and the doubt that had clouded his heart in past weeks faded for at least a moment as he floated through those tender memories, using every image like a handhold on a ladder to pull himself up out of the murky depths of unconsciousness he was sinking into.

It felt like hours before he heard footsteps again but it couldn’t have been that long, not if he was still hearing them. He blinked back to awareness. Wulf came down the stairs first, and a blur of red hair flew behind him. Caleb looked like he was breaking apart, a second away from falling to pieces on the ground. He stood stock still, staring at Molly, the breath gone from his lungs. Wulf stepped up next to him, arms crossed, smirking.

“I knew that place must’ve changed you, but I have to say, I never expected you to become a monster-fucker.” Caleb turned and looked at the Scourger, incandescent rage lighting his face. And then he looked back to Molly and it crumpled again.

“Just give me the keys, Wulf.”

“I will, I'm just so curious. Can't imagine what piqued your interest. I guess he _has_ got quite the mouth on him.” Caleb turned white as a sheet and he whipped around to look at Molly, pure dread on his face. “Oh, don’t worry, I didn’t touch your toy. Not like that anyway.” Caleb’s upper lip twitched and his jaw clenched.

“Give me. The keys.” Wulf made a show of it, rolling his eyes and going into his pocket for the key ring torturously slowly.

“Mind hurrying it along before I give up the ghost over here?” Molly called weakly. Caleb snatched the keys out of Wulf’s hand and hurried to the cage, falling to his knees.

“Molly, Molly…” he mumbled through a thick cloud of tears as his fingers fumbled with the lock. “Molly, I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry, they hurt you, this is all my fault-”

“Hey, baby,” Molly laughed woozily, his eyes half shut. “Let’s save the blame for after we get out of this rancid fucking place, alright?” The door of the cage swung open and Caleb struggled to pull Molly out.

“Caduceus!” He called, his voice high with panic. “Caduceus, I need your help!” The lumbering footsteps of the firbolg came down the staircase. Molly felt a strong, warm pair of arms lift him under the shoulders and a relieving wave of healing energy wash over him. He wasn’t near fully put back together, but he immediately felt more lucid.

“Up you come, friend.”

“Hey, thanks, Caddy,” Molly groaned. Caduceus supported him around the shoulders as Molly stood. Caleb was already darting around the room, shoving Molly’s belongings back into his pack, wrapping his swords carefully. His hands were shaking so hard, Molly didn’t think he could’ve cast a spell right now.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said, highly unnecessarily.

“Are you sure, I was thinking we ought to vacation here,” Molly slurred, still a little dizzy. Caduceus helped him up the steps and the two Scourgers stared him down as his friends half walked, half dragged him out the front door. That first breath of cool night air was like the sweetest wine Molly ever tasted and he gulped it down hungrily. They made their way out of the Candles as quickly as they could with Molly in such a state. Molly was starting to feel dangerously unsteady on his feet, and the world was spinning.

“Hey, I think - I need to-“ And then, nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof. That was rough. Thank you all for all the feedback so far! Y'all know how to make a writer feel appreciated 🥰I promise I'll make it up to you in the next bit!


	11. sing for the damage we've done, and the worse things that we'll do

When Molly awoke, he wasn’t alone. The entire Mighty Nein had camped out in his room at the inn, Yasha curled protectively around him, Caduceus taking the other bed, the rest of the Nein scattered on the floor in various cuddling arrangements and nests of blankets. It almost brought tears to Molly’s eyes, the love of this little family he had stumbled his way into.

His head pounded and every bit of him hurt, but his wounds seemed to have been healed over. He had to remember to thank Cad and Jester…. He was still covered in dried blood, though, all down his face and his shoulders, the sheets looked like a murder scene. He slipped out of Yasha’s arms as stealthily as possible, but as soon as his foot hit the floor Beau’s eyes snapped open. Molly held a finger to his lips and mimed washing up. She nodded and laid her head back down onto the rolled blankets.

Molly climbed over his friends and out the door, and he almost had a heart attack when he spotted a figure hunched over against the wall - and then realized it was Caleb. He was wide awake, arms wrapped around his knees, staring off into space until Molly closed the door with a soft _snick_ behind him.

As soon as Molly’s eyes met his, Caleb averted his gaze. Painful shame was evident in his expression. Molly went over and sat next to him, wincing as the hard floor met bruised bone.

“Hey,” he whispered. “What’re you doing up? Been a long day.”

“Ja,” Caleb croaked. His throat sounded raw. “I could not sleep.” He seemed to come back to himself a little and blinked at Molly. “You should be sleeping. It is important for healing.”

“Couldn’t sleep with all this shit on me. Thought I’d grab a bath and go back to bed.”

“Can I - should I come with you? I am not - not coming on to you or something, I swear, I just am worried you may, ah, lose consciousness again. Jester and Caduceus did their best but they did not have much left by the time…” He didn’t finish. Molly nodded.

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Caleb followed a few paces behind him, Molly’s pack in his arms. The two were quiet as the water ran. Caleb was still filthy too, but didn’t seem to notice as he carefully laid out and folded fresh clothes for Molly and heated the water in the tub to a scalding temperature, just how Molly liked it. Molly rubbed his arms awkwardly. They needed to talk.

When Molly started gingerly peeling off his stiff, blood and grime soaked clothing, Caleb turned away, and that might have hurt more than any of the broken bones or vile bruises that were covering his body. Not because Molly was in the mood, far from it, but because that felt…like something you did with a stranger. It felt like a decisive statement of where Caleb’s head was at, at least as it came to the two of them. _You’re probably overthinking it. One step at a time._ Molly groaned softly as he sank into the hot water, blood and dirt already floating up off his damaged body. Caleb stayed on the bench, his foot bouncing nervously, his gaze fixed on the tile floor.

On the one hand, Molly was exhausted. He didn’t want to be the one to coax Caleb out, not right now, not when _he_ just needed to be cared for. On the other, he knew Caleb and knew that he probably thought Molly never wanted to lay eyes on him again. Whether it was fair or not, he probably needed to let Caleb know outright that he wanted him close.

“Hey, I’m not the only one who could use a scrub.” He gestured to Caleb’s grimy clothing. “Plenty of space in here.” They’d sprung for a nicer inn than usual and boy, right now Molly was glad they had. Caleb stared at him for a second, opened his mouth, thought better of it and started to slowly remove his own clothing. Molly averted his eyes the way Caleb had done. Caleb brought over two bars of soap from their packs and offered them to Molly.

“Do you have a preference?” His voice was soft, almost a whisper. The one that smelled like lemons made his heart dance in his chest, and he pushed that one towards Caleb as the fluttering feeling turned to a mournful ache. He took the one that smelled of ginger.

Caleb entered the water carefully, like he didn’t want to disturb it with his presence. This silence wasn’t like the comfortable quiet Molly treasured in their evenings together. It was filled with things that needed to be said, and the events of the last 24 hours had clarified an order of priority in that list. But he waited for Caleb to speak as he worked up a lather between his hands. When he glanced over at the human, his stomach twinged looking at the nasty bruises on Caleb’s arm, blood matted in his hair, puncture wounds in his shoulder. Molly submerged his head to wet his hair but when he lifted his hands to soap his head, a hot bolt of pain cut through his upper arm, making him grit his teeth against a cry that made its way out anyway. One of his wounds started to bleed again.

 _“Scheisse_ , Molly, let me-“ Caleb pushed off the opposite wall and lifted a rag to press it to the cut on Molly’s arm, but he hesitated. “Um, is it okay, if I touch you?”

Molly nodded. Caleb’s fingers were gentle as he rinsed the wound and tied the scrap of cloth around it, tight enough to stem the bleeding.

“I can do that for you. Your hair. Only if you want, though.” Molly hesitated. He desperately wanted to feel Caleb’s caring touch but he didn’t want to take it differently than how Caleb meant it.

“Can we talk first?” Molly hugged himself, in the hopes that he could hold it together. Caleb shrank back.

“Ah, ja, we…maybe should.” They both stared at each other. Neither seemed to know what to do and the room was silent.

“Molly…” Caleb’s face was shattered and Molly’s heart felt like it was being gripped by a vice. He wanted to kiss that expression off Caleb’s face, but this wouldn’t be solved by anything but talking it out.

“Molly,” he started again, his voice shaky. “I am so sorry. That isn’t enough, it’s far from enough. I could never make it up to you.” Molly pushed down the desire to reassure Caleb, to just tell him they were okay and it was all okay. His desire to babble and just paper over the uncomfortable feelings was powerful but he resisted. Peeling off the bandages was uncomfortable but it was needed.

“I think,” Molly said slowly, reaching out and laying his hand over Caleb’s. “It would help me if you said what you’re sorry _for_.”

“I’m sorry that I have not been fully honest with you. I was…selfish. I wanted you to…I did not want you to know everything about my past. I wish I could say it was noble but it was not. I was afraid. I am afraid. I never wanted to have this talk with you because I knew…you would stop looking at me like - like -“ Caleb cast around for the end of the sentence. “Like how you did. And that put you in danger.”

“Well, that last bit’s not quite right,” Molly said. “ _I_ put me in danger by being an idiot. But…” Molly worried his lip nervously. “The first part’s what I most care about. The honesty. I…they said some things. About you. Things you did. I just…” _I’m sure none of it was true_ , he almost said, but didn’t. He wasn’t sure of that at all. “I know they can’t be trusted, but….”

“It was probably the truth. Or at least near it. We…we don’t have to do this now. Not unless you want to. It’s a long story.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Molly whispered, choking on the ball of emotion in his throat. “Don’t you trust me?” The question wasn’t fair, not at all, he knew it, but he asked it anyway. Caleb looked on the verge of tears.

“Of course I do, Mollymauk. I trust you. It was never about that. I…am ashamed of myself.” He paused. “Would you still like me to wash your hair? It may be easier to discuss this…not face to face. If that is alright.” Molly blew out a breath.

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t.” Molly turned around and scooted closer to Caleb, his movements uncertain. This man whose smile sent his heart into a tailspin, who knew every inch of Molly’s body, had touched and loved and kissed him everywhere, Molly was now hesitant to sit in front of. _Gods, how did we get here?_ Caleb started working lather into Molly’s hair slowly, his touch feather light and soft. “Tell me if anything hurts.” Molly almost laughed at that. _All of it hurts._ He was reminded, as he melted into the gentle touch, of a thought he’d had a few weeks back, that when Caleb insisted on caring for him after sex, he was healing a bit of himself too. Reminding himself he could nurture. That thought felt different now, weightier, knowing what he knew.

The water around them slowly turned murky as Caleb washed the blood out of Molly’s hair. The wounds were still painful to the touch, but not open anymore, and the drag of Caleb’s fingertips over his scalp was soothing. Molly bit back the urge to purr and stayed quiet, giving Caleb space to talk, to start to suture together the tear between them.

“You already know some of it.” His voice was so quiet Molly wouldn’t have heard him if not for the amplification of the stone bathroom. He recounted it all to Molly, almost as Molly had heard it from the Scourger, though with quite a few important pieces of context added in. Molly’s tears leaked into the bathwater. It was so vivid in his mind, everything Caleb was describing. _“Ah, I don’t forget anything.”_

“There you have it, then. All of my…failures.” He’d finished washing Molly’s hair a long time ago and was now simply combing through it under the water, rhythmically running the silky strands between his fingers. He paused. “Mollymauk, if you never wanted to be alone with me again, I would understand.” Molly lifted his head out of the water and turned to face Caleb for the first time since he started speaking. The wizard waved a hand and cleared the water of the muck and blood and grime that had come off the two of them, leaving behind only clean water. Nowhere to hide.

“Is that what you dream about?” Molly didn’t know why that was the first question that came to mind, but it was. He’d wondered since they met, since the first night Caleb had woken up shouting in the middle of their camp and Nott frantically tried to calm him.

“Yes. I would trade places with them in a heartbeat if I could.” The thought sent a shard of glass through Molly’s chest, cold and razor edged. “And…I hope this does not come across that I am trying to, I don’t know, compel you to stay…. I did not think I could ever heal, from that. I still have not, and maybe I never will, but…you have helped me start by accepting me as I am, from the beginning. No matter what, I am grateful for that.”

“I need time,” Molly whispered, tears in his eyes. He was desperate beyond hope for Caleb to understand. “I - I just need time.”

He wanted to be able to say it was alright, to just push down his doubts and fix it, fix it, just make it okay, but he couldn’t. He was exhausted and he was wounded and he was grieving for the boy who had suffered so much and he was afraid of the parts of him that might still be living inside the man. Caleb said that Beau and Nott had told him that it wasn’t his fault because he was under the influence of memory altering magic, but Molly understood implicitly why that wasn’t an absolution. Caleb killed his parents believing they were traitors. Whether they were or not was immaterial to the yoke of sin Caleb wore around his neck.

Caleb did his best to hide the heartrending misery that flickered across his face.

“I understand. I…have betrayed your trust, and that has caused you to come into harm’s way. I would understand if that should prove…incompatible…with…with…spending time together, the way we have been.”

“Hey, I -“ Molly clasped one of Caleb’s hands between his. “I-“ _I love you._ He still wanted to say it, despite everything, so badly, but he wouldn’t, he couldn’t, not now, not yet. “I don’t think you’re a bad person. I don’t. I just need a little time.” Caleb smiled weakly.

“I am glad you see some good in me, Mollymauk.”

“I see a lot of good in you, Caleb. And I don’t blame you for this.” Molly gestured to himself. “I was stupid to go sniffing around there. I was angry. Seeing him…I know that’s stupid, it isn’t about me, but just knowing half of it like I did, I wanted to gut him like the fucking animal he is. For what he did to you. I just needed to do _something_ , but that was a really stupid something.”

“If only I’d had you around back then, ja?” Caleb gave a small, sad smile. The tension between them was starting to melt away and Molly scooted a little closer.

“Can I be honest with you now, then?” He asked. Caleb laced his fingers in Molly’s cautiously.

“Always.” Hot guilt churned in Molly’s stomach.

“I know I’ve been a bit distant, these last couple weeks.” Caleb quickly shook his head.

“Molly, please do not worry about it, you had so much on your plate, Yasha and-“ Molly held up a hand and Caleb fell silent.

“It isn’t that. That’s not why. I…it was because of the Scourger.”

“…Oh.”

“I got scared. Of what I didn’t know about…your past. I don’t think I really understood until I saw her what - what you were trained to be.” He could see the effect of his words in Caleb’s face and it broke his heart, but it all needed to be said.

“You thought that I was like her.”

“You were, once,” Molly replied softly. Caleb didn’t argue. “And the whole thing, just…it scared me.” _That maybe somewhere, inside, you still are like her._ “I saw the way you looked at her when she died and… I just don’t want to think of you like that.” Caleb was quiet for a few long moments.

“I cannot defend myself when it comes to the Vollstruckers, Mollymauk. It is indefensible, every bit of it. The only thing that can possibly redeem any of me is that it is precisely because I am not like them that I am not one of them. I did something unforgivable, and it broke me. I will never be whole again… But the rest of them did it. Every Scourger you have met has murdered their family members. And they sleep at night, thinking it was justified, even if they suspect that he lied to them.” He looked at Molly, his eyes hazy with tears. “I don’t have much to tell you that distinguishes me from them, because perhaps nothing does, but there it is. That is not enough, but it is all I can offer.”

Molly curled his legs into his chest and hugged them, resting his cheek on his knees.

“And, um…this is probably not the appropriate time to discuss this, but it’s weighing on me, I just need you to know that should you not wish to, um, continue, uh, as it was before, I will understand. You - we do not need to discuss this now, I just wanted to tell you that, um, I do not have such expectations.”

“Thanks, Caleb,” Molly whispered. His eyes were starting to drift shut again, the ache in his body making itself difficult to ignore. Caleb tucked a loose curl behind Molly’s ear.

“Let’s get you back to bed, ja? We can talk more tomorrow.” Molly nodded sleepily. “Just stay here a moment.” Caleb got up and dressed in clean clothes quickly, coming over to help Molly out of the tub. Molly didn’t bother with a shirt, just throwing on pants and squeezing the excess water out of his hair. Caleb unlocked the door but Molly stopped him before he could open it.

“Hey, wait-“ Molly put his arms out and moved in for a hug, slow enough to give Caleb an out if he wanted it. Caleb surprised Molly, dropping their things on the ground and scooping him up in a tight hug. Caleb’s breath was shaky and Molly, pressed against his chest, could feel minute vibrations through the cavern of his ribcage.

“I thought they were going to kill you. I thought I would get there and you would already be….” Caleb’s voice was broken and watery and he pressed his face to the top of Molly’s head instead of finishing the thought.

“Thanks for coming back for me then,” Molly joked weakly, around the tears that were coming up in his throat.

“Always.”

“We’re okay, right? You and me? I mean - I maybe kind of fucked you over by getting caught sneaking around.” Caleb pulled back but kept holding Molly by the shoulders.

“Did you think I was angry with you?” Molly shrugged, feeling foolish now.

“Maybe. I wouldn’t blame you.”

“No, Mollymauk, I’m just relieved that you are safe.” Molly’s heart was pounding, every beat filling up his chest as Caleb looked into his eyes, his hands still firmly on Molly’s shoulders. “I mean… _are_ we okay? You and I?” Molly reached up and ran a hand through Caleb’s wet hair with a smile.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “Yeah, we’re okay.” Molly didn’t know exactly what that meant yet; things had obviously changed, he did need some time to figure that out, but right now he only wanted one thing, and that was to feel Caleb’s mouth on him again. Before he could overthink it, he tangled his fingers in Caleb’s hair and pulled his head down to meet him, and their mouths collided in a sunburst of heat and wet and _want_.

 _This is a terrible idea_ , the single reasonable voice in his head said as Caleb pulled Molly tighter and kissed him back with hungry, rough desperation. That voice was persona non grata in Molly’s brain until morning, he decided, and closed his eyes as his hands flew to the hem of Caleb’s shirt and began pushing it up and over his shoulders.

“ _Molly_ ,” Caleb choked. “Molly, a-are you sure?”

“Please shut up and fuck me,” Molly mumbled against his mouth, Caleb’s shirt twisted up in his hands. Caleb nodded breathlessly and pulled his shirt up over his head, discarding it on the floor as he gathered Molly in against him and pushed him against the door. Molly smacked the lock shut with one hand and the other cupped the back of Caleb’s neck, releasing a deep groan and letting his head fall back against the door as Caleb’s teeth found his neck.

“Gods, I fucking _missed_ you,” Molly gasped, too far gone already to care about running his mouth.

“I _fucking_ missed you too-”

This was nothing like what he was used to with Caleb; their kisses were sometimes playful, sometimes sensual and tender, sometimes passionate, but this was all need and desperation and almost a month of bruised, painful longing finally finding relief. Molly was exhausted, he was pretty sure a rib was still broken, and he certainly didn’t have the blood to spare to fuel an erection, but here they were.

Molly’s feverish hands fumbled with the laces of Caleb’s pants and tore them open, dropping to his knees even though it made him dizzy. Caleb steadied himself against the door with one hand and let out a choked cry while the other went to Molly’s head as Molly, without preamble, took Caleb into his mouth. He loved going down, normally he’d take his time, tease a little, relish every soft sound and subtle twitch of Caleb’s thighs in his hands, but he was on a mission. Caleb gripped Molly’s hair like it was the only thing keeping him upright. It hurt a little but Molly knew going straight to his mouth for the first time in weeks was a lot, and a little roughness was what Molly wanted right about now. It didn’t take long for his messy, hasty blowjob to bring Caleb to full hardness, and the exhilarating feeling of doing this again for the first time in what felt like forever, along with Caleb’s delicious sounds, stifled as they were, had Molly craving every inch of Caleb on every inch of him.

He stood, and Caleb immediately pushed him against the door again, kissing him with gasping breaths, his hands sliding down to Molly’s hips and pushing his pants off.

“Oil?”

“In my pack.”

Molly stepped out of his pants and kicked them aside as Caleb fished about in Molly’s pack. When he found it and turned back to Molly, Molly’s insides turned to jelly at the familiar and long yearned for sight of Caleb flushed red and disheveled for him, all for him. Molly yanked him forward by the shoulder and kissed him again, sloppy and desperate, the feeling of Caleb’s hot skin sliding against his own totally intoxicating. He hitched his leg up on Caleb’s hip, the press of Caleb’s body shoving him up against the door. He keened when he felt the hand that wasn’t gripping his thigh reach between his legs, a slick finger circling his entrance in a touch that was more gentle than demanding. Molly relaxed his muscles, hard as it was to focus with Caleb sucking a bruise into his neck and his finger pressing inside. Normally, Molly loved getting fingered, thought of it as a nice prelude to sex, but his brain was nothing but lust and need and he couldn’t wait another minute.

“C’mon, please, baby, I need you _now_ ,” Molly whimpered, grinding his hips against Caleb. “Don’t need to open me.”

“You’re sure?” Caleb panted into his ear, unconsciously pressing his own hips against Molly’s. Molly nodded frantically.

“ _Please,”_ he moaned breathlessly, squeezing Caleb against him with the leg looped around his waist.

“Anything you want, _Schatz,_ just let me get you wet-“ Caleb pulled out and sloshed more oil into his hand, pushing two slippery fingers into Molly and circling his walls, once, twice, three times. He slicked his cock generously, still breathlessly kissing Molly anywhere he could reach, and sank into Molly’s soft, waiting heat.

Molly’s eyes rolled up and his nails dug into Caleb’s back as he let out a gasping cry. Pleasure, tinged with an edge of pain, radiated up through his spine but the burn was dulled by the thrill of having Caleb in him again, being so close, the sweat and salt of their skin mingling between their bodies.

“Fuck, _yes_ , Cay-“

“ _Mollymauk-“_

None of this was graceful, or romantic, or pretty. Wood was scraping up his barely repaired back, his sounds were throaty and undignified, each thrust of Caleb’s hips made the door clatter unceremoniously, he was covered in sweat and oil and spit and they weren’t even done. Molly loved every single second. He lost himself to the press of Caleb’s chest against his, the bruising clutch of Caleb’s hands on his hips, the building tightness in the bowl of his pelvis. Every movement Caleb made inside him felt _right_ , like it was filling a spot he hadn’t known was so empty, easing an ache that had been lying dormant. _I love you, I love you, I love you._

“Molly, where-“

“Inside me, please, I need you inside me,” Molly mewled, his face pressed into Caleb’s shoulder. Caleb groaned and slammed his hips against Molly’s, his whole body trembling as he released deep inside Molly’s passage. Molly started stroking himself furiously, little whimpers and breathless moans escaping him as he felt Caleb flood his insides with wet warmth. Caleb cupped Molly’s ass in his hands and hugged closer into the place where they joined, biting and sucking at Molly’s neck just how he knew Molly liked it. Molly was so close, he was so close, and then he caught Caleb’s eye as he pulled back to kiss Molly’s lips; they made his stomach melt and the tension broke as he came with a strangled cry all over the two of them.

Molly nuzzled into Caleb’s shoulder, still clutching Caleb tightly around the neck, laying hazy kisses over freckled skin. Caleb was catching his breath and running his hands over any inch of Molly he could reach, softly stroking his back, his hips, his sides, only pulling out when he had no other choice.

“I’m so glad that you are okay,” Caleb whispered, brushing his hand over Molly’s cheek. Molly purred happily and kissed the crook of Caleb’s neck where his face rested.

“I think I need another bath, though.”

“Only need to ask.” Still canoodling with Molly against the door, he waved a hand behind him and the tub water cleared and reheated, steaming and inviting.

Molly tried to keep his eyes open but between the absolute exhaustion of the last 36 hours and his sleepy afterglow, he didn’t stand a chance. They both took a quick dip, quietly scrubbing the remnants of sex off themselves and exchanging shy smiles. Molly wouldn’t have minded a little more petting, but his body was revolting and he almost fell asleep right in the tub. _Wouldn’t that be a way to go?_ He almost laughed at the thought. His friends rescue him from the torture basement of one of the most dangerous people in the Empire and he bites the dust by falling asleep, hitting his head and drowning in the bath in the middle of the night.

When they got back to the room, Caleb put his pack down outside the door and went to sit on the floor again.

“C’mon, you don’t have to sleep out here,” Molly whispered. “Plenty of space inside.”

“I -“ He looked up at Molly, his exhaustion obvious on his face. “I’m afraid they will come back.”

“You’ve got your alarm spell on haven’t you?”

“Ja, of course, but-“

“No buts. You need some sleep too. At least be in here with us.”

Caleb opened his mouth to argue but shut it again, too tired to fight about it. Beau woke up immediately again as soon as the door opened, but nobody else did. Molly climbed over Yasha easily - circus training did come in handy from time to time - but as Caleb gingerly stepped around sleeping bodies, Molly saw Beau look the two of them - both still wet, Caleb blushing - up and down with a raised eyebrow. Neither of the humans could see anything but he could see both of them and stifled a chuckle against his pillow. With a bit of careful maneuvering, Caleb laid out his bedroll on the floor next to Molly’s bed and at least put forth the appearance of going to sleep. Molly silently reached down to the floor and felt a warm hand grasp his briefly, squeeze, and let go. He pulled his hand back, tucked it under his chest and fell back asleep snuggled against Yasha.

~~~

Molly slept late into the morning, only waking up when Jester and Caduceus came to give him more healing.

“This really seems like overkill, you guys,” he protested as they poked and prodded him. Caduceus shook his head.

“It really isn’t. You lost a lot of blood.”

“And hit your head a bunch of times,” Jester added, dosing his ribcage with swirls of green energy. He felt the bones reset with a dull ache and winced.

“And we used our healing spells on everyone else yesterday, so they don’t need much more.” When they finished, Jester hung back and sat on the bed with Molly.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” She asked softly, picking up the end of his tail and stroking the spade. He shrugged.

“I’m alright.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” Molly sighed.

“Not right now. Thanks, Jes.”

“It’s okay to still be scared.” Jester’s expression was open, nonjudgmental. Molly felt stupid all of a sudden, forgetting that Jester probably knew exactly how he felt.

“It feels foolish,” he mumbled. His tail curled around her hand. “They’re not coming back for me or anything, and if they did, I’m not alone. And I’m fine, I lived, and they didn’t do anything you two couldn’t fix right up.”

“Yeah,” Jester agreed, “but you didn’t know it would end that way, when it was happening.” The emotion hit Molly like a brick wall. His throat closed and hot tears welled up in his eyes.

“I thought I was going to die.” He sniffled. “I know we’ve all had moments like that…. But something about it just being like that, like I would do everything I could to get out and I’d just pass out and never wake up. And you guys would just wonder where I was until you realized something wasn’t right.”

“It took me a long time to stop feeling that way after the Iron Shepherds.” She took his hand. “I thought the Traveler would save me. And then when he didn’t come…I didn’t think anyone was coming. I would just be sold into slavery and never see my Mama again and she’d never know what happened to me. It’s okay to be sad about that. We’re here for you though okay? I’m here for you.”

Molly squeezed Jester tight and just held her for a moment, breathing in the familiar vanilla of her perfume. He was here, he was okay, he was back where he belonged.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come get you,” Jester whispered, her voice watery. “But the guy said only two and Caduceus had more healing left than I did. I wanted to come but Caleb was out the door before anyone could even volunteer.” Molly’s heart ached.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re here now. I’m-“ he cast around for the words, trying not to say too much. “…I’m glad they came.”

“It’s probably for the better,” Jester said. “When we realized you were missing, like missing missing, Caleb was really freaked out super bad. I think if you feel up for it you should maybe talk to him, I think he feels responsible, since, you know, they’re people he knew and all. Just so you know. And I think the others want to know what happened too, like if they interrogated you and stuff and what they asked about, but I don’t think anyone wants to ask you yet, so. We should probably all talk about that too. When you’re ready.”

“Yeah, I know. I will.” He gave her another hug. “Thanks for always being there. Turns out getting the shit beat out of you makes you peckish, let’s get something to eat.”

The rest of the Nein was camped out in Nott and Caleb’s room, discussing next steps. When Jester and Molly entered with a plate of cheese and fruit from the inn kitchen, everyone seemed to talk at once.

“You’re awake!”

“You look well-“

“-much better-“

“-had us really worried there-“

Caleb stayed quiet but Molly didn’t miss the smile that lit up his face when Molly came in, even though he looked away and tucked his face into his shoulder. The way even that flash of a smile sent warmth radiating through Molly’s chest left no doubt in his mind that nothing about his feelings had changed in the past weeks. Their conversation - and the aftermath - last night took a burden off him that he hadn’t realized the weight of until it was gone. His stomach was at relative peace for the the first time in weeks. He _knew_ this man, no matter what was in his past, he was still the same Caleb.

Things had changed between them, that much he was sure about. There wouldn’t be a “back to before”. Rather, they were going to have to build something new, but that thought excited Molly instead of scaring him. Not an end, or a breakdown, but a transformation, a new chapter. He knew what _he_ wanted that to look like. He'd said last night he needed time, and he'd get plenty of it over the coming days and weeks before they would be able to return to Xhorhas _._ Any lingering worries, he hoped, would wither, and he could come to Caleb when they finally had some privacy and calm and communicate what he wanted with clarity and confidence.

He couldn’t wait to get home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woof, I hope that made up for a rough chapter 10! Speaking of which, how did we possibly get to 90k words? When did that happen?
> 
> (Also, is the kudos counter broken? I almost had a heart attack looking at it this morning).
> 
> Thank you for the continued support! Your comments reacting to each chapter let me know folks are still enjoying and motivate me to finish. :)


	12. open your mouth up and sing for me now, and I will sing for you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for your patience while you waited for this! I really hemmed and hawed and edited and unedited over how to best give you all (and these boys) an ending y'all deserved. I hope I managed it.
> 
> Maybe unnecessary but I just want to note here that the nerves Caleb has during sex in this chapter are NOT due to PTSD. I've written scenes in the past where Caleb is anxious because he's having a flashback, and they read similarly, but that's not what's happening here, in case that might be upsetting to you. He just had an unpleasant past experience (not assault). Read on!

As it turned out, Molly very literally couldn’t wait to get home.

He didn’t plan it that way. He actually had a whole idea worked out, how he was going to put on a dynamite outfit and buy a nice bottle of wine and get Caleb up to the roof so he could say what had been on his mind for almost two months now. In his spare moments, imagining it, the light was so soft and romantic, Caleb looked so handsome... Molly was almost embarrassed to even admit to himself that he’d envisioned these things in such detail, over and over again. He tried to remind himself that he could be fucking everything up between them by saying it. Maybe Caleb didn’t feel that way, or worse, he did, but had his own reasons they shouldn’t be together. That very reasonable, cautious voice in Molly’s head was drowned out by the slideshow of evidence Molly had collected behind his eyelids before drifting off to sleep at night: tender, loving touches, the way Caleb smiled when he looked at Molly, soft kisses that went on forever. He pictured over and over again all the different ways Caleb might react, though he stayed away from anything less than positive, because that was too painful and this was _his_ fantasy after all. For all his uncertainty around that component, Molly had the rest of the plan worked out to the smallest detail, even the jewelry he was going to wear and how it would sparkle in the fairy lights under Melora’s tree.

When it actually happened, Molly was sleep deprived, fighting off seasickness, and smelled like a ball of seaweed that had been vomited up by a gull. Not really how he’d pictured it.

The ships departed. Peace was made. It felt anticlimactic, for the war to be over - or, at least on hold, if Molly’s cynicism held any weight - like this. From Molly’s point of view, as one not involved in any of the back and forth, espionage bullshit, they’d spent a few days out at sea, and now the war was done. He felt like there ought to have been something more dramatic, like the Bright Queen and King Dwendal holding up a signed treaty and shaking hands before the cheering masses, or fireworks, or something like that. Instead, the ships silently took their leave, each departing for friendlier waters. If the Empire and Dynasty couldn’t be said to be friends, they could at least be said not to be open enemies. That was more than the Nein could have hoped for.

“We brought peace to our home.”

Watching Beau and Caleb embrace, both barely daring to hope that this peace might stick, Molly couldn’t help but smile. The rest of the Nein piled in for a group hug, and Molly could have sworn he saw tears shining in the corners of Caleb’s eyes.

The excitement buzzed around the group for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Celebrations were made, drinks were had, the Nein spent a raucous evening with Orly and the crew. The weight of past months had finally lifted from their shoulders - for now. Molly had no doubt something would be along to replace it, but for now, everything was perfect.

_Mollymauk, come up to the deck, there’s something I want to show you._

The whisper had barely finished before Molly was pulling on his boots and making his way above decks. Caleb was leaning on the ship’s railing, sleeves rolled up to his elbows in the balmy night, his features softly illuminated by the glow of the moon above. _Even Sehanine knows he ought to be bathed in moonlight._ Molly shook the sappy thought from his head and sauntered over.

Caleb turned and smiled shyly when he saw Molly, unable to hide his delight from Molly’s eyes despite the dark.

“Mollymauk, look-“ When Molly came near, Caleb guided him closer with a light touch on his lower back and pointed up to the sky. It took a moment, but in the distance, Molly could see tiny pinpricks of light, flaring into existence and then snuffing out, almost as quickly as they appeared. The light trails they left across the sky, he knew, appeared to Caleb as all white, but he could see the shades of color in them, pale purples and pinks lighting up the sky.

“Wow,” he breathed, enraptured. “Would you look at that?”

“It is so easy to see all the stars here,” Caleb said. “Out on the water, I mean. There is no light from buildings or streets to block it. You can even see the faintest constellations.” Molly knew some of the constellations; his first tarot cards had been based on them.

“Ah, yeah, there’s the Warrior,” he said, pointing at the starry form of a man with a longbow.

“And the Maiden.” Caleb touched Molly’s shoulder as he pointed out a constellation in the shape of a long-haired woman. The waves lapped at the side of the boat as they quietly watched the shooting stars shower down on the horizon.

“Big day today, huh?” Molly asked softly. “For you, I mean.” Caleb was quiet for a moment.

“For all of us. For the Empire and for the Dynasty.” Molly nudged him with his shoulder.

“Yeah, but c’mon. For _you_. You helped save the lives of thousands of people, people from your _home_. That’s got to feel good.”

“...Ja, it does feel good,” Caleb admitted. “It um…it makes me feel that perhaps I am beginning to make up for my mistakes. In some small way.”

“You are. You saved lives today. I know, yeah, all of us, but that includes you too. And…maybe I’m overstepping, but you never would have been here to do that if you hadn’t been _there._ You know? I know it doesn’t make up for anything, it doesn’t erase what happened, I just…if you’d done the thing everyone does, you know, settled down, become a nice Zemni Fields farmer with a couple redheaded kids running around, you’d be standing there watching while soldiers burnt your crops and raided your cellar. Instead you’re brokering peace. I’m not saying it was worth it, it just…kind of makes me think of how, if you put a brick of coal under enough pressure, it turns into a diamond.” Molly shut his running mouth and stared down at the black water rhythmically rocking the ship. Caleb was quiet for long enough that dread started to well up in Molly’s chest, that what he’d said had crossed a boundary.

“Thank you, Mollymauk.” Molly looked over and smiled like his heart wasn’t trying to pound out of his throat.

“You deserve it.” They were silent for a few long moments.

“Molly?” The trepidation in Caleb’s voice was impossible to hide. Molly’s stomach started churning again.

“Yes?”

“I, um…I admit I did not only want to show you this, I had - something I wanted to discuss with you.” Molly turned to face him, furrowing his brow.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, um, well, nothing is wrong, I mean, not…from my point of view, anyway, but - um. Well. I wanted to talk to you because…” Caleb cleared his throat and looked back up at the sky, anxious, like the stars would spell out for him what he was supposed to say. “I guess I should say first that however you, um, feel about this is okay, and I will understand, but I - I -“

Molly’s heart started to pound at a thousand beats a minute. There was no admonishing himself not to get his hopes up or misinterpret things, he was already so far down the rabbit hole of being _certain_ that he knew what Caleb was going to say.

“I have started, ah, to - to have feelings, that are, um, beyond the scope of our…agreement.” Molly placed a hand on Caleb’s, which was clutching the railing with a white-knuckled grip. Caleb took a deep sigh. “I, um, I think that, ah, maybe, I - I might be - um, I might be…f-falling in love with you.”

Molly’s brains scattered over the deck of the ship and if he had to draw this moment, he would’ve sketched himself scrambling around to pick them up. Caleb wouldn’t look him in the eye. It took Molly a second to realize he’d just been standing there silently.

“If this changes things, for you, I know you said you needed some time, and - I just thought-“

“Caleb.”

“-it wouldn’t be fair of me to not tell you, since you are thinking things through, but I promise I will not trouble you if, if I have been imagining it might be shared-“

“ _Caleb_.”

“-because I did not mean for this to happen and I promise I, really I did not suspect it at first, but I should have come to you sooner and I’m sorry-“

“ _Caleb!”_

Finally, Caleb snapped out of his monologue and turned to face Molly, though his eyes were still downcast.

“I love you. I love you too.” He pried Caleb’s hand off the railing and took it between his. “I…was waiting for a good time to tell you. I did need to do some thinking, but…I did it. And I love you.”

“…..Are - are you sure?” Caleb blurted out. Molly couldn’t stop the laugh that bubbled up out of him.

“Yes, for fuck’s sake, I’m sure!”

Caleb took his hand back from Molly and brought both his palms up to Molly’s cheeks slowly, like Molly might snap out of it or change his mind.

“C-can I kiss you?” His voice was so soft Molly might not have heard it over the waves against the ship.

“Don’t make me beg, baby,” Molly implored in a whisper. Then a comforting, warm, inviting mouth was on his and Molly couldn’t breathe, _he loves you too, he really does,_ and he wrapped his arms around Caleb’s neck like he couldn’t bear to let him go. He felt like he was really tasting Caleb for the first time, now that his whole heart was open, he wasn’t holding anything back, putting into his kisses every word he hadn’t said over the last two months to this man who deserved them more than anyone in the world.

“Molly,” Caleb breathed against his mouth. “I love you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Molly whispered, the words falling from his mouth so naturally, like they’d just been waiting there for him to be ready. “Take me to bed, baby, please…”

“Yours or mine?”

“Yours. Why change it up now?” Molly winked and Caleb chuckled, pulling him in for another kiss. When they broke apart, Caleb grabbed Molly’s hand and they rushed down to the sleeping quarters, where, fortunately, everyone else was still absent, presumably continuing the celebrations in the captain’s room. Molly locked the door and laid back on the bed with a grin, kicking off his boots. Caleb rummaged through his components pouch and pulled out the little piece of copper wire he used to Message Nott.

“Hey, Nott, I’m turning in early, why don’t you and the girls have a sleepover tonight?” He waited for a second, presumably as Nott replied, and then placed the wire back in the pouch with a satisfied smirk. “Ja, we don’t have to worry about any interruptions.”

Molly flashed a wicked smile and beckoned Caleb closer with an inviting gesture. He pulled Caleb down into a seated position and kneeled down in front of him.

“Remember how the first time I did this you said you thought I’d suck the soul out of you?” Caleb laughed, carding a hand through Molly’s hair.

“Ja, I could never forget _that_.”

“Well I want you to have plenty of endurance tonight, so keep a tight grip on that soul.” Molly winked and started working at the laces of Caleb’s trousers. He laid soft kisses over where Caleb’s cock was beginning to stir, the heat burning in his belly even stronger now that he could feel everything he’d been pushing away for so long.

“Molly, wait-“ Molly’s head snapped up. Caleb had both hands pressed over his face, and he was beet red. Molly’s stomach sank.

“What’s wrong, love? We don’t have to do anything tonight, not if you don’t want, I shouldn’t have assumed-“

“I - I want you,” he whispered from behind his fingers, his eyes pleading. Molly frowned and ran his hands over Caleb’s thighs, soothing.

“I’m yours, baby, you have me, what is it?”

“I want - I want -“ Caleb let out a frustrated sigh and hid behind his hands. “I want you, um…i-inside.”

Molly finally comprehended what Caleb was asking for and felt awe blossom in his chest at the enormity of what he was being offered. Caleb had said from the start that he didn’t bottom anymore and Molly knew better than to ask why. If Caleb was giving him the chance to change that, he was going to make sure Caleb had the best experience of his _life_.

“Darling, of _course_ you can have that. Of _course._ I would _love_ to do that for you.” He pulled Caleb in for a tender kiss. “And if you change your mind, you speak up, okay? I won’t be mad.” Caleb nodded.

“I love you, Mollymauk.”

“I love you too, Caleb. How do you want to start?”

“Could we just kiss for a little longer?”

“We could kiss all night if you want to.”

Molly rose and climbed into Caleb’s lap, folding his slender legs around Caleb’s waist. He tipped Caleb’s chin up and kissed him; he moved slowly and sensually, running his hands over Caleb’s chest and shoulders. He felt like it was the first time again, and was more than content to draw things out. Caleb wrapped his arms around Molly and kissed him fiercely. Molly could feel his nervous pulse, like hummingbird wings, under the sensitive skin of his neck. He placed soft kisses there, breathless, overwhelmed by his own heart feeling like it was about to burst.

They made out a lot, but tonight, Molly couldn’t help but bask in it. The soft slide of their mouths, the romantic backdrop of waves lapping against the ship, warm hands wanting, clutching gently. He noticed when Caleb’s breath started to pick up and put a little more heat into his kisses, teasing his tongue over Caleb’s lips and drawing his hands down to brush over peaked nipples, and gods, did he love how sensitive they were.

“That feel good, baby?” Molly murmured as he slid his hands up under Caleb’s shirt while he mouthed at his neck. He was met with a sweet little gasp and a low moan. “Yeah, that’s it, let yourself have it, honey…”

“Mollymauk…” Molly purred in reply and pushed Caleb down gently onto his back. He could feel a hard length pressing to his inner thigh and rolled his hips against it, delighting in the groan he elicited.

As badly as he wanted to tear the clothes off Caleb, he went slowly, keeping the tension at a simmer, pushing his shirt up slowly and laying kisses over every newly exposed inch of skin. Molly couldn’t resist diving right in and running his tongue over a perfect nipple, sucking and licking. Caleb arched up and groaned, stroking Molly’s hair, a flush creeping into his cheeks.

“Mmmm, you look so beautiful like this, baby,” Molly cooed, his own erection making itself known between them. “I can’t believe I get to see it.”

“All for you, _Liebling_.”

Molly grinned and returned his attention to Caleb’s chest, teasing him until his lover was a squirming mess, hot and flushed and desperate. He would gladly do this all night, if the ache between his legs wasn’t growing nearly painful. Molly sat up and pulled his own shirt off, and Caleb followed. The sensation of hot skin on his was thrilling, and though he couldn’t usually take much time to admire his lover, tonight he let his gaze linger, and hummed approvingly as he ran his hands over Caleb’s torso. It was so exciting, the random scattering of freckles and coarse chest hair that decorated Caleb, so different from his own body. All of Molly’s ornaments had been intentionally applied, even most of his scars, as his wielded power demanded blood sacrifice; his body was naturally hairless, and if he hadn’t made it a canvas and chosen the adventuring life, his skin would have been smooth, even toned lavender all over, no freckles or growths or birthmarks. Human bodies told so many stories. Molly felt like if he mapped Caleb’s skin long enough, he’d find meaning in every auburn sworl of hair, each constellation of freckles of varying shades, and the scars of all different shapes and colors: small circles and thin lines where he’d been pierced with a bolt or an arrow, long, ragged slashes from claws and blades. Light pink scars that were fresh and would eventually heal over without a trace, raised ones that were permanent additions - and the ones that told of wounds that should have taken Caleb’s life, the faint, silvery marks that even magic couldn’t make perfect. Molly kissed each one lovingly as he found it, moving further down Caleb’s torso. _Thank you for not striking true. Thank you for not taking him from me._

“Can I take these off?” Molly asked softly, ghosting his fingers over the waistband of Caleb’s pants.

“Ja, ja, you can,” Caleb breathed, pushing his hips up into Molly’s hands. Molly undid the laces slowly, kissing and nipping playfully at newly exposed, sensitive skin.

“I’m so lucky,” Molly mumbled, nuzzling against Caleb’s hip.

“Nein, I am,” Caleb replied, biting his lip as he ran his hand through Molly’s hair. Molly leaned into the touch, purring quietly.

“I love you.”

“I love _you._ ”

Molly ran his hands over Caleb’s torso again after he removed Caleb’s trousers, admiring the long, lean body that he was still in awe he got to touch and love and play with.

“How do you want to do this, love?” Caleb pressed his lips together and furrowed his brow.

“I, um, I want…I want to be close to you.”

“Do you want to be on top so you can sort of set the pace?” Molly asked gently, still running soothing hands over the planes of Caleb’s flushed skin. Caleb shook his head quickly.

“I don’t really like being…looked at.”

Molly’s heart ached at those words; he wanted to kiss those fears away, tell Caleb over and over how gorgeous he was, how much Molly loved him, and _wanted_ to see him, but that would come with time, and without words. Enough loving touches and loving gazes and Caleb would, eventually, start to grow comfortable with being watched. For now, he kept his face neutral, not letting his sadness over Caleb’s self-consciousness show.

“Do you want to be face to face then? With me on top?” Caleb nodded.

“Ja, I think I would prefer that, if that is okay for you.”

“Any way I get to make love to you is more than okay for me, darling,” Molly said, his heart full to bursting with the sappiness and absolute sincerity of that statement. “Can I open you up?”

“Ja, just…it has been a while. I may need a bit more than, um, you usually do.”

Caleb was beet red, talking about this. It was almost funny to Molly; the man had an absolutely filthy mouth when he was coolly in control, but when Molly had the reins, Caleb could barely stand to ask for what he wanted. Molly would never mock him for that, he knew this was a deep exercise in trust and that everyone had a place that, when touched, they retreated from. He simply couldn’t believe what he was being handed, this fragile thing that Caleb clearly thought he could be trusted with.

“I could spend all night getting you ready,” Molly said with a wink. “I can hardly imagine it as a chore, baby.”

“I hope that is true,” Caleb whispered. Molly responded by laying kisses, first soft and romantic, then hotter, playful, nipping and sucking, in a winding path from Caleb’s hip to where his cock was swollen and heavy against his stomach.

Molly hummed happily and winked at Caleb as he opened his mouth and teased his tongue up the length of the gorgeous, flushed erection in front of him, just barely touching but Caleb gasped anyway, his hips jerking up towards Molly’s mouth, towards _more_.

“That’s it, baby,” Molly praised, “show me how much you like it, let yourself have what you want.” Caleb was still holding back his sounds as Molly lapped obscenely over his cock, slid the tip of his tongue just under Caleb’s foreskin, but he moaned loudly when Molly finally took him all the way into his mouth, long fingers clutching at the sheets.

Molly palmed himself for a second, just taking the edge off his boiling hot arousal, and sucked Caleb off with gusto, taking him down into his throat, pulling off occasionally to let Caleb see his red, shiny lips and his own cock wet from Molly’s mouth.

“Do you want to cum?” Molly asked, tickling Caleb’s soft stomach. Caleb was flushed and panting, and Molly could taste the first drops of pre-spend spreading over his waiting tongue.

“Is - is that okay?”

“Of course it is.”

“Then ja, I do.”

“Mmmm, love making you cum,” Molly purred, and dipped back down. He took Caleb back in his mouth and started bobbing his head rhythmically, building in pace and pressure until Caleb was a moaning, trembling mess under him. He felt the hand in his hair tighten and Caleb’s hips press up and he only got a brief, panted warning,

“ _Molly, I’m - I’m-“_

 _-_ before hot, thick cum flooded his mouth. He heard a low keen from the head of the bed and squeezed himself briefly, his own leaking dick threatening to bust out of his trousers. Molly’s eyes fluttered shut and he moaned around the cock in his mouth, suckling the last drops out of Caleb until he felt long fingers touch his forehead and gently start to lift him off. Caleb was still shaking, bright red, when he guided Molly back up to his lips, sealing his mouth against Molly’s with sweet little sighs of pleasure. Molly couldn’t help but grind against Caleb’s hip, as they made out, his erection needy and demanding.

“I love tasting myself on you,” Caleb admitted in a low whisper, his tongue swiping between Molly’s lips shyly. Molly purred deeper and his hips ground forward again, involuntarily. He opened for Caleb’s tongue, sucking on it and meeting it with his own in a dance that built in passion and tension. Molly was almost at his breaking point, but he tried as hard as he could to rein it in, letting his arousal cool to a low simmer under his skin.

“Can I get you ready, darling?” Molly asked, nuzzling against Caleb’s neck. “Do you still want that? We can switch, if you don’t.”

“No, I still want that,” Caleb mumbled, clutching Molly close. Molly pressed a kiss to his jaw and stood, retrieving a fresh bottle of oil and pulling off his own pants. He laid back down on his side next to Caleb and pulled a blanket over the two of them.

“Would this make you more comfortable?”

Caleb nodded vigorously and gave Molly a small smile. Molly grinned and turned Caleb’s face toward him, kissing him deeply. Molly gave them a minute to fall into a rhythm of sensual, unhurried kissing in the warm embrace of the quilt before he slipped his hand down to Caleb’s hip. He could feel his lover’s breath catch in anticipation and his body tensed.

“I’ve got you, baby,” Molly murmured, kissing the corner of his mouth. “You can relax. Let go and let me take care of you.”

“I’m trying,” Caleb gulped.

“We’ve got all night,” Molly reminded him quietly, drawing his hand down to the valley where Caleb’s thighs met. “We can take as much time as we want. There’s no rush.” He stroked the delicate, silky skin of Caleb’s inner thigh with one finger. “There’s no place in the world I’d rather be than right here, right now, with you.”

He kept his touch calming, gentle, and they kept kissing, each press of Molly’s lips tangibly relaxing Caleb until he gradually let his muscles soften and his legs fall open, little by little. Molly didn’t start probing right away, just let his fingers drift lower and lower until he could caress just around Caleb’s hole. He could feel Caleb’s muscles tense up and he just waited, circling the spot with the lightest of fingertips, just letting Caleb get used to the touch there.

“How’s that?” Molly asked in a whisper, Caleb’s lips barely an inch from his. His lover was breathing shakily, his skin flushed.

“F-feels good.”

“Mmmm, good, tell me if you like what I’m doing, okay? I want you to feel good. Would you put your knees up for me, darling?”

Molly kissed Caleb deeply to distract him as he pulled his fingers to the bottle in his other hand to slick them. He returned to circling gently, using one finger to apply just a little pressure, bit by bit. He could feel Caleb consciously relaxing, and finally, with a little coaxing, he opened for Molly. Molly went slowly, only pushing in as Caleb’s body accepted him. Caleb was moaning low, the tension in his body melting away.

“You seem to like that,” Molly teased, a satisfied smirk on his face.

“Ja, ja, that’s good,” Caleb panted, his eyes squeezed shut.

“Anything hurt?”

“No.”

“Good.” Molly kept massaging Caleb’s walls, pausing only to add more oil. He didn’t want Caleb to experience anything tonight that wasn’t pure bliss, so although his one finger alone was a tight fit, and his cock was painfully hard, he went slow, picking up only when he was sure Caleb was relaxed and soft enough to take it. Caleb was almost fully hard again by the time Molly dared try a second finger. As soon as he felt the touch of Molly’s middle finger against his rim, Caleb groaned and his hips jerked up.

“Please, please, I want it,” Caleb gasped, clutching Molly’s upper arm with one shaky hand. Molly responded by starting to thrust his fingers, in and out, the slick squish of oil making obscene sounds that warmed his blood.

“It’s all yours, sweetheart,” Molly mumbled, pressing kisses to Caleb’s lips.

“Feels so good, you feel so good _Liebling_ …” Caleb moaned, still gripping Molly’s arm and looking right into his eyes. Those bright blue irises Molly loved so much were almost swallowed by lusty black pupils.

“Oh _you_ feel amazing, baby, so warm and open for me…I can’t believe how lucky I am, I’m going to show you such a good time, baby…”

“You already are,” Caleb panted with a smile. “I’m - it feels _good_ , nothing…hurts, and I’m not…I’m not scared. Not with you.”

Molly couldn’t help but beam, diving in for a long, tender kiss. His heart hurt with how full it was with his love for Caleb, and he wanted to kiss Caleb until he felt every bit of it, but his rock hard erection and two fingers deep inside Caleb told him that there were other things on the agenda. His thrusting was easy and smooth now, Caleb’s passage was relaxing and softening - but still felt _heavenly_ tight, Molly’s cock twitched at the thought - and he was accepting the two fingers with little resistance. Molly grinned wickedly and began searching with the tips of his fingers, crooking them up and probing until he found the swollen little gland that made Caleb shout and clap a hand over his mouth as he moaned, the sound broken and desperate. Ah, there it was. Molly rubbed harder over that hidden sweet spot and delighted in the way Caleb keened, his ass clenching down around Molly’s fingers and his muscles spasming.

“Oh, do you like that?” Molly asked innocently, taking another pass over it that made Caleb whimper and twist the sheets in his other hand. Molly wasn’t trying to be mean, but…there was a little part of him that delighted in taking apart this gorgeous man, who particularly enjoyed playing with Molly’s prostate until _he_ was a begging, rubbery mess.

“Ja, you know I do, please, please, _Schatz_ -“

“Mmmm, good, baby, take your pleasure,” Molly coaxed, slipping another oiled finger in alongside the first two; Caleb let out a stuttering gasp and his whole body trembled, his toes curling against the mattress. “Don’t be shy, let me see you having fun, you know how I love when you’re all hot for me.”

Molly did love getting his wizard a little strung out, and especially loved when he was so lost in his own pleasure that he stopped being self-conscious and just let himself take and feel and chase his need until it was satisfied.

“You drive me crazy, Mollymauk,” Caleb choked out through gritted teeth.

“And I’m typically handsomely rewarded for it,” Molly teased, nipping Caleb’s ear. “You feel ready to me, darling, do you feel ready?”

“Yes,” Caleb gasped, “Yes, I’m ready, please, Molly, I want you-“

“I’ve got you, sweetheart, I’m going to take care of you.” Molly pulled his fingers out and moved to be between Caleb’s legs, where he finally caught a glimpse of that sweet, blushing hole, shiny with oil, that belonged to his lover - gods, his _boyfriend_ \- and felt a desperate longing to bury his face between Caleb’s legs and taste him. _Next time_ , he told himself with a shaky sigh.

“You are so fucking beautiful,” Molly murmured, just gazing at Caleb for a moment, whose soft copper waves were catching the moonlight filtering in through the window.

“I’m only reflecting the light of the moons above me,” Caleb whispered, gazing back up at him with so much love in his eyes, Molly’s heart could’ve shattered. Molly gave a shy smile and squeezed Caleb’s hand. He applied a generous amount of oil to his cock and lifted Caleb’s legs around his hips. Lining himself up, he paused and looked at Caleb’s face for any hesitation or trepidation and found none.

“We’ll go slow, okay?” Caleb nodded and squeezed Molly’s waist with his legs, pulling him closer.

“Please make love to me, baby…”

Molly moaned, his voice shaky, and pressed his cock to Caleb’s fluttering hole. Caleb’s body accepted him in one easy glide, as Caleb gasped and his thighs clenched around Molly’s hips, and gods, he was just as tight as Molly thought he’d be, tight and hot and slick. It took everything in him to pause, letting Caleb adjust to the stretch, but as soon as Molly started moving, rolling his hips back and forth, Caleb was moaning happily, rocking his own hips up into Molly’s. They found a rhythm, a push and pull, that had Molly dizzy with pleasure. He wasn’t able to stay upright for long, collapsing over Caleb, their chests pressing together, the sensation overwhelming. Caleb clutched at Molly’s back, his arms thrown over his shoulders, and Molly didn’t mind the slight bite of fingernails in his skin, not as long as they were Caleb’s and they were because of _this._

“Beautiful, beautiful, I’m so fucking lucky,” Molly panted, on the verge of incoherence. “You feel incredible, baby, so good, so hot and wet, gods…”

“Molly,” Caleb moaned softly, “gorgeous, sweet Molly, I love you, I love you, so much-“

The tide of Molly’s orgasm was rising, an inevitable crest that was becoming hard to ignore. He started to thrust more vigorously, each snap of his hips tightening Caleb’s grip on him and punching sweet, needy sounds out of Caleb’s chest. His moans were getting louder, and Molly found he didn’t give a fuck if the whole ship heard and knew what they were doing, he’d let them all watch if it meant he got to see his love so totally lost in his pleasure, Caleb’s body constantly shifting and twisting beneath him.

“Would you stroke yourself for me, darling?” Molly panted in his ear, pounding into Caleb now, burying himself deep. “I want you to cum again, cum for me, won’t you?”

“Oh, ja, _Molly_ ,” Caleb whimpered, taking himself firmly in hand and stroking as Molly fucked him. The contraction of Caleb’s ass as he thrust into his own hand, grinding against Molly’s stomach, made Molly choke and the tidal wave was almost unstoppable.

“Cay, baby, where should I - I’m close-“

“Cum inside me, I want you inside me,” Caleb begged, and Molly cried out as he came, _hard_ , his whole body locking up and his toes curling as his eyes rolled back and pleasure exploded through his whole body, from the base of his spine all the way to the tips of his fingers. When he reentered his body, still releasing the last spurts of his orgasm into Caleb’s velvet soft warmth, he saw Caleb rolling his hips up into his fist lazily as his cock shot out the final few streaks of cum that added to the white pool already deposited on his belly.

Molly collapsed immediately, wrapping his arms around Caleb and rolling them onto their sides so he could make out with his other half, kisses loving and tender and in awe of what they’d shared.

“Gods, baby, I love you so much, I love you,” Molly mumbled against Caleb’s mouth.

“I love you too….” They nuzzled against each other softly, kissing, petting. Molly pulled out only when he couldn’t stay inside anymore. Caleb was warm and smiling lazily, running his fingers through Molly’s hair.

“You’re so amazing,” Molly breathed. Caleb waved a hand and cleaned the both of them.

“Not compared to you.” They laid facing each other, holding hands, snuggled under the quilt Molly had pulled back up after Caleb cleaned them. Molly was in heaven, his whole body relaxed in his afterglow, just gazing at the man across from him. Every inch of Caleb took Molly’s breath away, not least because it belonged to this brilliant, fascinating, sensitive man who miraculously loved him too. Molly couldn’t believe it was all his. He didn’t want to close his eyes, because he didn’t want to open them again and find out he’d dreamed all of this.

“Hey,” Caleb whispered, stroking Molly’s cheek. “What are you thinking about?” Molly smiled, contented.

“Just how lucky I am. How happy I am that I finally got to say how I feel.”

“Ja, me too. I have been holding that in for a long time.”

“You know,” Molly chuckled, unable to keep a smile off his face. “I had a whole idea of how I was going to tell you.”

“You still can,” Caleb replied, grinning back. “I can pretend to be surprised.”

“So, um…are we together now?” Molly asked, looking up at Caleb shyly. “Is that…what you want?” Caleb furrowed his brow.

“Well, I mean, ja, I do, but - I know you needed time. If you want to think about it, I understand.” Molly shook his head.

“I did my thinking. No amount of thinking would change how I feel about you, but, I…I figured that I needed to evaluate the man I know now, not who you used to be. That person, that woman in the cell, I don’t see that person in you. I see…I don’t know. I see a boy, who was scared, and hurt, and manipulated, and the man he grew into trying to make it right. And make sure nobody does that to anyone else. That’s a _good_ man. And the kind of man I want to be with.”

Caleb took his hands back from Molly and pulled his face in for a long, fierce kiss. Molly melted into it; he didn’t ever want to stop kissing Caleb, didn’t ever want Caleb to be too far away to kiss.

“I don’t have a silver tongue like you, _Schatz_ ,” Caleb murmured. Molly laughed, thinking of all the times Molly had brought him to the edge of orgasm with his passionate, _filthy_ dirty talking.

“I’d have to disagree with that.”

“Point taken. Regardless, I am not sure I can…express my feelings so well, but I’m mad about you, Mollymauk. I feel like I have fallen through a portal and I’m still getting my bearings, but I only want more of you. I’m so, so in love with you.”

“I love you too, baby,” Molly whispered, and the room fell quiet, the only sounds the waves and the soft breaths between their kisses.

“I have not, um, done that, in a long time,” Caleb breathed, squeezing Molly’s hand. “Thank you.”

“I’m so glad I could make it good for you, darling.”  
  
“It was for you too, though, right?”

“Yes, it was fantastic. Amazing. But really, it means a lot to me that you trusted me with that. You didn’t have to.”

“You have all of me,” Caleb whispered. “There is nothing I have to hide from you. No part of me that I will not give you gladly.”

“At your own pace,” Molly said gently, curling his tail around Caleb’s thigh. “I’ll gladly explore every inch of you, sweetheart, but only when you’re ready.” Caleb bit his lip and hesitated.

“You have given me a lot of your trust, from the beginning. You have been vulnerable with me. I owe you that in return.”

“You don’t. I mean…I want vulnerability, y’know, between _us_ , but in bed? Don’t do anything out of some feeling of obligation. You didn’t, um…?”

“Nein, no, not at all. I wanted that with you. I just mean that I want to be vulnerable with you the way you have with me, because…I know how it touches me that you have given me that…gift. I want to give you that too. Because I love you.” Molly nuzzled his nose against Caleb’s. He wanted to say that every touch, and glance, and smile felt like a gift, but that felt too sappy even for this moment.

“I love every part of you you’ve given me so far, baby,” he said instead. Caleb smiled and kissed the knuckles on Molly’s hand he was holding.

“Do you want things to change? In bed I mean?” Molly thought for a second.

“No, I really like the sex we’ve been having. I liked this too. We can have both, can’t we?”

“You can have me any way you want, _Liebling_.”

“Funny, usually I’m the one who says that,” Molly teased, grinning wickedly. Caleb chuckled.

“How do you want to handle this with the Nein?” Caleb asked. “I will follow your lead if you wish to keep it to ourselves.”

“We won’t be able to forever, but at least for a little while, could we? I like having this special, just between us for now.”

“Of course. Will you stay tonight?” Caleb asked, holding Molly’s cheek.

“Always. I’ll always stay.”

“And I’ll always come back to you,” Caleb whispered in his ear, kissing him on the cheek. Molly snuggled into Caleb’s arms with a smile and buried his face in Caleb’s chest, the familiar, erotic scent of his lover - his _boyfriend,_ that thought sent a thrill through Molly again - filling his senses. He purred happily and curled his tail around Caleb’s waist.

“Good night. Just warning you, you won’t be able to get rid of me now. And I usually take all the covers.”

“Tieflings run soooo much warmer than humans,” Caleb mumbled with a smile.

“And since _you’re_ stealing all my body heat I have to replenish.” Molly beamed up at Caleb. “Night, darling.”

“Goodnight, Mollymauk.” Molly felt Caleb’s mouth press to the top of his head, and fell asleep purring deep in his chest.

~~~

_Knock knock knock._

Molly raised his head, squinting in the morning light. Caleb’s arm was still slung around his shoulders. He was delightfully warm, extremely comfortable and deeply unwilling to answer whoever was waking him up right now.

“Hey,” Caduceus’s bassy tone came from behind the door. “Caleb? Molly?” Molly froze, wide awake now. He shook Caleb’s shoulder and Caleb jerked awake, bright blue eyes fixing on Molly’s face.

_Knock knock knock._

“Sorry to bother you,” Caduceus called. “Yasha said we should check if you guys want breakfast because Nott’s already eaten half the eggs and she’ll eat the rest if nobody takes them from her.” Caleb wiped a hand over his face, sighing.

“Thank you Caduceus, ah-“ He looked at Molly, raising his hand in the silent question. Molly rolled his eyes and shrugged. “No need to wait up for, um, us.”

“Alright, just checking.” Heavy footsteps grew fainter as Caduceus lumbered away. Molly and Caleb lay in silence for a moment.

“So. So much for keeping it to ourselves,” Molly grumbled, though he couldn’t help but smile, looking at Caleb’s adorably messy morning after hair, his stubble coming in. He’d get to see this every morning now.

“Ah, ja, our luck was bound to run out eventually.” He kissed Molly’s forehead. “We can stay in bed a little longer, though.”

They didn’t make it out of bed for almost another hour.

“Are you sure you didn’t fall in love with me just for the morning blowjobs?” Molly quipped with a grin, lying on his stomach with his tail swishing behind him as he watched Caleb dress. Caleb chuckled and pulled his shirt on over his head.

“They were certainly persuasive.”

Molly rolled over onto his back with a sigh and started playing with the spade of his tail.

“Are you ready for the assault?”

“Not even a little.” Caleb smiled at him and dropped a kiss on his head on the way past. “But for you, I can handle it.”

“You know just how to romance me, darling.”

Molly got up and dressed too while Caleb brushed his hair and tied it up.

“I love you,” Caleb whispered just as Molly put his hand on the doorknob.

“Love you too, baby,” Molly cooed, kissing him on the cheek.

When they reached the top deck, hand in hand, it was like a hundred voices hit them at once, even though it was only the other members of the Nein.

“I _told_ you they were fucking!”

“Oh my _gosh_ are you guys like a _couple-_ “

“-not very sneaky-“

“-heard you two all the way back in Nicodranas last night-“

“-how long have you-“

“Maybe give them a little space, guys?” Caduceus called. Molly breathed a sigh of relief; Caleb was beet red. They extricated themselves from the clustered group and separated after a quick squeeze of the hand. Jester immediately grabbed onto Molly’s arm and started leading him away to a spot they could sit on the side of the deck.

“Oh my _gosh_ , Mol- _ly_ I had _no idea_ , how long has this been going on?!” She fired off a hundred more questions as they huddled together. Molly grinned and listened, pulling his cards out of his pocket and shuffling so he had something to keep his eyes on.

He kept things vague, telling Jester how things progressed but dancing around their prior sexual arrangement. He laid out three cards in a simple spread that was supposed to tell about new love, just to see what they’d say.

The Six of Cups, the Nine of Wands, the Three of Cups.

The Six of Cups stood for Molly, where he was in this moment. _Joy. Childish happiness. Nothing seems complicated, no threats are imminent. Cherishing the moment._

The Nine of Wands was for Caleb. That card brought only one word to mind: _Recovery._

The Three of Cups was supposed to divine the future, where things would go with their relationship. The design he’d drawn, an image of himself, Beau and Jester in the Nestled Nook, laughing and raising their glasses in a toast. _Festivity. Celebration in the company of friends. A time to remember._

“Molly? Did you hear me?”

“Sorry, dearest. What did you say?”

“Do you _love_ him?” She asked in a hushed tone.

Molly looked across the deck, where Caleb was leaning against the railing and talking with Beau. Caleb caught Molly’s eye, smiled at him, and winked, making Molly’s heart flip. He couldn’t help the goofy, lovestruck smile and turned back to Jester, blushing and biting it back.

_And I’ll always come back to you._

“Yeah, Jester. Yeah. I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Thank you all for joining me on the longest fic I've written to date. I'm sad to bring this story to a close, but it is no exaggeration to say that this fic only got this far because of the joyful, excited, appreciative, beautiful comments readers have so consistently posted. I started out hopeful that it could be a long fic but expecting to write maybe 2-3 scenes and call it a day. I wish I could express how much it means to me that so many of you scooped up each chapter almost as soon as it was posted, told me you were passing the fic around to your friends, related how particular moments made you feel and helped me grow as a writer through your constructive criticism. All of it motivated me more than I can say!
> 
> In a profession where I put a great deal of blood, sweat and tears into my writing (albeit nonfiction) and praise is sparse compared to confidence-shattering critique, being able to come here and just write my heart and know it makes people happy has been a balm to the soul.
> 
> I'm more than happy to take suggestions for my next project, if anyone has a ship or prompt they'd like to see me tackle. I also have more writing, including Widomauk, on here, so check that out if you liked this! (Both of those sentences felt SO egotistical but I wrote them anyway...) Until next time, thank you, thank you, thank you. ❤️


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